The first Beskydy Tunnel, built in 1886, was 1,750m (5,740ft) long. In time, its capacity no longer met increasing demand, thus it was decided to make a new bore parallel to the existing one. Discussions began in 1998 and construction started in 2014,[1] using the New Austrian Tunneling Method. Breakthrough was achieved in January 2016[2] and it was inaugurated in a ceremony by Ukrainian PresidentPetro Poroshenko in late May 2018.[3][4]
The new tunnel has a length of 1,822 meters and is covered by up to 180 meters of rock. The internal dimensions of 8.5 meters height and 10.5 meters width allows for a double track railway to be accommodated. The two tubes are connected by three lugs, while the old tunnel is being used as a rescue route for the new one.
The maximum speed was increased from 40km/h to 70km/h. As a result, the tunnel can now handle 50 to 100 trains daily, nearly 60% of all rail traffic between Ukraine and the European Union,[3] and it will reduce journey times between Lviv and Ukrainian border town Chop, in a bid to facilitate exports of domestic products to neighbouring countries.[3]
The project was financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB); the EBRD invested $40 million, while the EIB contributed €55 million ($64.5 million) for construction.[3] In addition to providing financing, technical expertise was bought in from the EU, especially from Austria, to support the development of the tunnel. The construction process reportedly required 130,000 tonnes of concrete and 8,000 tonnes of steel.[3]
On the night of 1-2 June 2022, Russia targeted a section of the tunnel with at least two Kalibr cruise missiles to disrupt weapon and fuel supplies from the West to Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The attack was confirmed by governor of Lviv Oblast Maksym Kozytskyy.[5]
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Beskydy_Tunnel, and is written by contributors.
Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
