LONG RAILWAY TUNNEL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20075, 12 October 1928, Page 16

LONG RAILWAY TUNNEL.

GREAT AMERICAN WORK. APPROACH TO COMPLETION. [FIIOM 01' It OWN COIiRrSI'ONDKNT. j SAX FRANCISCO. Sept. 10 A triumph of railway engineering is Hearing completion in the State of Washington— tho tunnel of the Great Northern Railroad in the Cascade Mountains, near (lie Pacific Coast. It will be the longest tunnel in America, and will rank as one of tho greatest, construction works in ihi; history of railways. With electrification, the total cost will be £5,000,000. The tunnel is nearly eight miles long, being exceeded only by the Simplon, St. Cotliard and Loetchberg tunnels in the Swiss Alps Instead of requiring eight to 10 years to build, as in the case of the Simplon. the Cascade was built in three years. It replaces some four miles of existing tunnels, part of which are on curves, and will save a thousand feet of grade, fn other words, it will substitute 10 miles of straight line for 18 miles of cronked line The maximum erode will be, one in 65. If will savo one hour in the running time of passenger trains and two hours in that of freight trains Tho project will eliminate curves which, in total degrees, twisting this way and that through tjie mountains—after the stylo of the spiral on tho North Island Main i Trunk lino in Now Zealand—would take j a train in six complete circles. It will get rid of mori- than six miles of snowsheds an elaborate and costly system tho breat Northern was obliged to operate. ~i e^ r < a , , eil,r destruction of the .> tec s had formed such a costly item that the annual oxponso o{ snowshcf] mainten . cos? 7 &S T° Ulan lhc interest on the cost ot constructing the Cascado tunnel.