| Length: | 21.05km (13.08miles) |
| Opened: | March 2006 |
| Crosses: | Wushao Mountain |
| Line: | Lanzhou–Xinjiang Railway |
| Pushpin Map: | China |
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.[1] The second bore opened in August 2006.[2] It was briefly the longest railway tunnel in China[3] until the opening of the 27.84 km Taihang Tunnel in late 2007. In 2018, a one year reconstruction of the signaling system was started.
In 2019, construction of a parallel tunnel started, to carry the Lanzhou-Zhangye high speed railway.[4]
Located on the Lanzhou-Wuwei section of the Lanzhou–Xinjiang Railway, the tunnel has reduced the distance between Dachaigou and Longgou by 30.4 km.[1] Key to the Eurasian Land Bridge,[3] the tunnel is part of the 3,651 km section linking Lianyungang on the East China Sea coast with Ürümqi in Northwest China.[5]
Administratively, the tunnel is located within two county-level units of Wuwei Prefecture-level City. The eastern (actually, southeastern) portal is in Bairi Tibetan Autonomous County (a.k.a. Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County); the western (actually, northwestern) portal, in Gulang County.
The tunnel consists of two bores with centres separated by 40 m. It is designed to allow speeds of 160 km/h.[1] 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.[6] 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.[7]
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 it 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.[8]
On 26 July 2009, a locomotive taking a train on the way from Xi'an to Ürümqi caught fire in the left tunnel, about 300 meters from a tunnel portal. Over 1,700 passengers were evacuated, with injuries limited to some smoke inhalation.[9]