A £20 billion project to build a 76-mile-long tunnel through one of the world's most earthquake-prone regions has been green-lit by the Chinese government. This revolutionary undersea tunnel could slash an eight-hour journey down to just 40 minutes.
The planned Bohai Strait Tunnel in China will pass through several fault zones over its 123km length, with planners saying that they will be utilising advanced earthquake-resistant technology to prevent disaster. The design will implement longitudinal ventilation shafts throughout the tunnel to manage air quality across the extensive distance. The designers have also allowed for several hundred emergency refuge areas, crucial for evacuation in a 123-km tunnel where a fire or flood could be catastrophic.
The tunnel, when completed, will overshadow all of its existing rivals, such as the 31-mile (49.6 km) Channel Tunnel from the UK to France and the 53.85-kilometre (33.5-mile) Seikan Tunnel in Japan. At present, the Seikan Tunnel is the world's longest tunnel that runs under a body of water, with an undersea stretch of 23.3 km (14.5 miles), however, 56 miles of the Bohai Strait Tunnel will be submerged - surpassing the combined lengths of the Channel Tunnel and the underwater section of the Seikan Tunnel.
The trains in the Bohai Strait Tunnel are set to run at speeds of over 150mph and will reduce the travel time between the cities of Dalian and Yantai by nearly 90% - outpacing Eurostar trains, which only hit 100mph when using the Channel Tunnel. The cities at each end of the tunnel are vital industrial powerhouses: Dalian has grown from a significant port into a leading financial, shipping and logistics hub for East Asia; while Yantai, celebrated for its fruit cultivation, has recently seen substantial growth in petrochemicals, automotive manufacturing, electronics, pharmaceuticals and cutting-edge tech sectors. Currently, the quickest link between the two cities is the Bohai Train Ferry, which requires roughly eight hours to traverse the strait.
This ambitious project is predicted to take between 10 and 15 years to finish. For comparison, it took roughly six years to complete the Channel Tunnel after ground was eventually broken. The first train through the tunnel is likely to run at some point in the late 2030s or beyond.