Excavation begins below East China Sea for undersea high-speed railway tunnel

Jintang tunnel will link Ningbo and Zhoushan islands in China’s east and is expected to be built by the end of 2026

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Work began on the undersea section of the Jintang tunnel on Tuesday. Photo: Weibo/科技日报

Published: 11:00am, 25 Oct 2024

China is a step closer to completing what will be one of the world’s longest undersea high-speed railway tunnels, with excavation work under way on the section below the sea.

The Jintang tunnel will link Ningbo – a city south of Shanghai – with the Zhoushan islands, in the eastern province of Zhejiang.

Excavation work on the undersea segment of the tunnel began on Tuesday and is advancing at a rate of 16 metres (52 feet) a day on average, according to state media.

There are many technical challenges ahead for the project. Photo: Weibo/科技日报

The tunnel will span 16.18km (10 miles) and is expected to be completed by the end of 2026, with the railway due to be ready for operation by 2028.

Ningbo and Zhoushan are currently connected by a cross-sea bridge and ferries. The 76.4km section of railway that will link them is designed for trains travelling at speeds up to 250km/h. It will cut travel time from 1½ hours by car to just 26 minutes.

The new tunnel will also link Zhoushan with the country’s high-speed railway network, reducing the journey between Zhoushan and Hangzhou from 3½ hours to 77 minutes.

China has built the world’s largest high-speed railway network, with more than 46,000km of railway in operation – accounting for more than 70 per cent of the world’s total, according to state media.