In Important Work.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 6268, 15 July 1890, Page 2

In Important Work.

An article in the Allahabad Pioneer gives 1 some ‘interesting particulars concerning the tunnel that has just been completed through the Khojak on the railroad from Quetta to | Candabar. The Khojak Pass is 7500 ft above the sea, and about 2000 ft above the level of the surrounding country. The tunnel pierces the range at right angles, and its course is therefore due East and West, and it enters the hill about 1000 ft below the crest of the pass. The length of the tunnel is 18,600 ft, or two and a half miles approximately, and it will carry a double line of rails. For the first half the floor ascends about lin 1000, and for the second half of the journey it descends at an incline of about 1 in 40. There are two main shafts, one 318 ft and the other 290 ft deep, which were sunk in order to facilitate the construction of the tunnel. The chief obstacle of progress arose from the flooding of the tunnel at more than one point. A large spring was cut, and the water flooded the shaft on the Cundahar side to a depth of . 180 ft, It took ten weeks to pump out the water, and in the western headings as much as 600 gallons a minute was constantly rushing out of the west mouth. In order to overcome this difficulty a side cutting had to be made. .The magnitude of the work is testified to' by the banks of shale and rook at the mouths of the tunnel and at the pitheads, which are said to be quite altering the landscape in places. One curious discovery made during the progress of the work, as the result of an investigation into the cause of certain mysterions explosions, was'that it was proved that “ combustion bad arisen inside a case of blasting gelatine.”