OREANDA-NEWS. November 9, 2012. The builders of OJSC STROY-TREST have started operations on a new Tomusinsky railway tunnel construction project at 106-107th kilometer of Artysha II - Tomusinskaya of Western Siberia Railway Line in Kemerovo Region.

The new tunnel, which will be 1,158-meter long, is to be driven by the mining method to run in parallel with the existing tunnel. A multifunctional gallery will be built by shield driving in order to rule out exposure to the ground water pressure. The gallery driving has already started. The builders are also paving temporary roads and prepare foundations for two single-span 18-meter long bridges at the approaches to the tunnel on the eastern and western sides.

Operations on the project site are conducted under challenging geological conditions. Loose soil interbeds with methane-saturated coal seams, which is why the drill operators have to take extreme fires safety precautions. Tunnel approach ways are shored up by erecting retaining walls, and the mountain slopes are consolidated by guniting.

The new tunnel is scheduled for commissioning in 2015. The old tunnel built in 1967, which is 1157-meter long, will be preserved.