Seikan-Tunnel
The Seikan Tunnel (Japanese青函 トンネルSeikan tonneru ), with a length of 53.85 kilometers of one of the longest tunnel in the world. With a share of 23.3 km tunnel under the sea, it has, according to the Euro Tunnel, the second longest undersea tunnel portion.
Location and History
The railway tunnel was opened on 13 March 1988, which runs under the Tsugaru Strait, connecting the two Japanese islands Hokkaido and Honshu. Thus, all four main Japanese islands were among themselves made accessible by train. For the connection of the tunnel to the high-speed network new lines were built with a total length of 200 km on Honshu. The up to 100 m below the seabed and 240 m lying ( at the level of the sole ) below the ocean tunnel consists of an accelerator tunnel and two supply tubes. The main tunnel is up to 11.90 m wide and 9 m high. The maximum gradient is 20 per thousand.
His name has the Seikan Tunnel in Hokkaido (which are, however, very different in this combination of the characters of the big cities in the vicinity of the two tunnel entrances, the first of Aomori (青森) on Honshu and the second from Hakodate (函馆), see Japanese writing).
History
The first concrete plans for the connection of the four main Japanese islands through tunnels date back to the year 1939. The former Japanese colonies of Korea and Manchukuo in northeastern China should be developed through tunnels. 1942 was the shortest tunnel - between Honshu and Kyushu - completed.
Work on the Seikan Tunnel began in 1964. The building owner Japanese Railroad Construction Company expected a period of approximately a decade and estimated construction costs of 200 billion Japanese yen ( approximately one and a half billion Euros ). A guided through the tunnel Shinkansen line should reduce the travel time between Tokyo and the island's capital Sapporo from 17 to about six hours. After almost five years of drilling and other preparatory work, construction work began on 1 April 1971. This was calculated using a construction period of seven to eight years and costs in the amount of 325 billion yen. Another source speaks of the beginning of the main work in the fall of 1971, after seven and a half years of preparation, in which sample tunnel, labor and disposal tunnels had been dug. The opening was planned for 1978.
In early 1983, the first supply tube of the tunnel was beaten. Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone triggered by remote control from his Tokyo office from this blast. The breakthrough was broadcast on television for hours. At this time were still missing in the main tunnel about three kilometers to the punch. The puncture was made on 10 March 1985.
As the first tunnel in the world were the tubes in their 12 km long middle section, in international waters ( no man's land ).
Before opening the tunnel, the market share of air traffic between Tokyo and the island's capital Sapporo at 95 percent. The train ride took around 17 hours, including a four-hour ferry crossing. Due to bad weather, a traffic of around 80 days per year was not possible. With a ferry disaster of Toya Maru drowned 1954 1.100 people.
When building work in 1985 stood before completion, 34 construction workers were killed in an accident up to then, and more than 700 injured. The construction costs were (approx. 4.3 billion euros ) increased from the originally planned 200 billion yen to 700 billion yen. The projected traffic volume was compared with forecasts to 1970, dropped to about one -fifth. It has now been expected two million people and three and a half million tons of cargo. A Shinkansen traffic was not initially provided, first, intermediate uses have been discussed, including a munitions depot or tourist attraction. The annual cost of maintenance and repayment were first estimated at the equivalent of around 500 million euros.
The Seikan Tunnel also released the Japanese Dai- Shimizu tunnel from the longest tunnel in the world.
View
From 2015, the Hokkaido Shinkansen to be led through the tunnel. First, they will go into operation only between Shin- Aomori and Shin- Hakodate, later extending to Sapporo to take place. In order to achieve this without major modifications to the Seikan Tunnel, the tunnel was designed and built from the start with the gauge of the Shinkansen routes. Currently only tracks are laid with the usual Cape gauge in Japan of 1067 mm in the tunnel, but the fixed track has already been prepared for the installation of three rail tracks for the Cape and standard gauge 1435 mm.
The planned maximum speed Shinkansen traffic is 210 km / h