The Kunlun Mountain Tunnel

Kunlun Mountain Tunnel - Introduction

The Kunlun Mountain Tunel is located in the center of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the border of Hoh Xil "no mans land", between the Kunlun Mountain and Tanggula Mountain. It is 1338 meters long. The altitude of the entrance of Kunlun Mountain Tunnel is 4095. It is the highest railway tunnel above the sea level in the world. The Kunlun Mountain Tunnel is located at the mountain pass where oxygen content in the air is very low and very cold. The average altitude of the Kunlun Mountain Tunnel is about 4900 meters, and the annual average temperature is about 7 degree below zero. In winter, the lowest temperature can reach 41 degree below zero, and the oxygen content in the air is just 50 percent of inland districts. It is named "life restricted zone". The whole tunnel is in the frozen soil and frozen rocks. The geology and rock formation is very complicated, which includes frozen soil, complete frost soil, crevasse, argillaceous sandstone and some other abominable geology.

Kunlun Mountain Tunnel – Construction

The Kunlun Mountain Tunnel is the key controlled project of Qinghai-Tibet Railway Project. The construct work began on October 18th, 2001, and successfully completed on October 19th, 2002. It marked the construction of Qingha-Tibet Railway made great progress. The tunnel is single way tunnel. The largest depth of burial of this tunnel is 100 meters, and the smallest depth of burial is 8 meters. There are open cut tunnels at the entrance and exits. The entrance is 35 meters and the exit is 23 meters. The tunnel portal used oblique construction. The structure of the tunnel is composite lining. The Kunlun Mountain Tunnel successfully broken through the technique problem about plateau frost soil. It was praised as one of the ten China Science and Technology Events in 2002. It is also named one of the largest frost soil tunnels in the world.