ELEVEN-MILE TUNNEL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20228, 12 April 1929, Page 13

ELEVEN-MILE TUNNEL.

NEW ITALIAN RAILWAY.

FEAT OF ENGINEERING

The new direct. Italian railway line between Bologna and Florence, on which work has been proceeding' intermittently for the last 15 years, is now approaching completion, and will be open for traffic in 1931.

The line, which is carried through 30 tunnels, long and short, and over 41 bridges and viaducts, is a wonderful feat of engineering. Its great feature is the "Galleria dell'Appennino," a tunnel nearly miles in length, driven through the heart of the Apennines from Lagaro, about 20 miles from Bologna to Mercatale near Prato.

The distance between Bologna and Florence will be actually shortened by 20 miles, and as the easier gradients of the new lino will enable trains to run at far greater speed than at present, the journey will take approximately one hour and a half instead of three hours. Trains will be run by electricity, and there will be a 1 double lino throughout. It, is only since 1923 that work has been carried on uninterruptedly and rapidly on the new line, 7000 men being permanently employed. The Apennino Tunnel, although rather over a mile shorter than the Simplon tunnel, is a greater achievement than the latter, owing to the peculiar geological formation of the mountain and the difficulties incurred with infiltrations of water and escapes of inflammable gas. When the new line is linked up with the electric line between Florence and Borne, now nearly finished, there will be a direct and rapid train service through the whole of central Italy.