China to build world’s longest undersea tunnel

#mfg #engineering #manufacturing #china China is set to build the world’s longest undersea tunnel. Running nearly 77 miles from the port city of Dalian in north-eastern Liaoning province to Yantai city in eastern Shandong, the road-and-rail tunnel will replace an 8hr ferry ride or a 900-mile road trip.

Work could start as early as 2015 or 2016, the China Daily newspaper reports, and will be finished by 2026. The tunnel will be more than twice as long as the current record-holder, which links Japan’s Honshu and Hokkaido islands.

China originally announced plans to build the tunnel in 1994, but the project has been stuck at the planning stage. According to Wang Mengshu — a tunnel and rail expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering — the estimated cost is 220 billion yuan ($36.3 billion).