The Second Baikal Tunnel Excavated 80%

The construction of the second Baikal tunnel – the most important facility of the BAM and Transsib modernization program – is nearing completion. Tunnel builders have dug more than 5,250 meters, with the total length being 6,682 meters. The LOVAT technical complex is approaching the eastern portal. The average daily penetration rate is 12 meters.

Synchronically, the mining of the eastern and western drainage tunnels is performed, 1,743 and 1,500 meters long respectively. Also this year, two 232-meter escape galleries will be drilled.

To be recalled, the main tunnel excavation started in October 2014. The construction of the new Baikal tunnel involves 1,200 employees and more than 100 units of mining equipment, road construction machinery and transport vehicles.

The project is planned for completion in 2019.
The new Baikal tunnel will significantly increase the throughput capacity of the Severobaikalsk-Lena range.
The existing single-track Baikal tunnel is one of the most pressing “bottlenecks” of the East Siberian Railway. The Daban-Delbichinda range is on the verge of exceeding its train-handling capacity. Further increase in the capacity of the distance is impossible without the double-track of trains through the Baikal Range and the double-track development of the nearby distances.