Wushaoling Tunnel

The Wushaoling Tunnel is a 21.05 km dual-bore railway tunnel in Gansu, north-west China. The east-bound bore opened on 30 March 2006. The west-bound bore is expected to open in October 2006.cite news | url = http://www.railwaygazette.com/news_view/article/2006/05/3120/intelligence-94.html | title = Intelligence | work = Railway Gazette International | date = 2006-05-01 | accessdate = 2006-06-04] It is the longest railway tunnel in China.

The tunnel has reduced the distance between Dacaigou and Longgou by 30.4 km. Key to the Asia-Europe Land Bridge, the tunnel is part of the 3,651 km section linking Lianyungang in East China with Ürümqi in Northwest China.cite news | title = China opens Asia's longest land tunnel railway | work = The Press Trust of India Limited | publisher = Asia Pulse Pty Limited | date = 31 March 2006]

The tunnel consists of two bores with centres separated by 40 m. It is designed to allow speeds of 160 km/h. The tunnel travels through complex geology, involving four regional fault zones and soft rock. The New Austrian Tunnelling method was adopted as the construction technique. An elliptical cross-section (horseshoe shape) was used for the majority of the tunnel, with a circular section used in the geologically challenging Fault Zone No. 7.cite journal | last = Yang | first = J.S. | coauthors = et al | year = 2006 | month = May-July | title = Interactions of four tunnels driven in squeezing fault zone of Wushaoling Tunnel | journal = Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology | volume = 21 | issue = 3-4 | pages = 359 | doi = 10.1016/j.tust.2005.12.176] The right (east-bound) bore was constructed first, while the left tunnel was a parallel drift with smaller diameter to be enlarged later. The gradient is mainly 1.1%. The Wuwei portal has an altitude of 2447 m, and the Lanzhou portal 2663 m. The maximum depth of the tunnel is 1100 m.cite journal | last = Liu | first = Zhichun | coauthors = et al | year = 2006 | month = May-July | title = Synthetical analysis on monitoring of Wushaoling railway tunnel | journal = Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology | volume = 21 | issue = 3-4 | pages = 363–364 | doi = 10.1016/j.tust.2005.12.180 ]

On 26 June 2003 Interfax reported that the total investment for the project was ¥ 7 billion ($845 million), that the project commenced construction in November 2002 and that is was scheduled to take six and a half years to complete. Also reported was that Chinese steel manufacturer Lingyuan Iron and Steel (Linggang) would provide 4,360 tons of steel products for the tunnel project.cite news | title = Lingyuan Iron & Steel to Supply Steel Products for Asia's Longest Railway Tunnel | publisher = Interfax Companies & Commodities | date = 2003-06-26]

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