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The Seikan Tunnel (青函トンネル Seikan Tonneru) is
the longest railway
tunnel in the world, at 53.9 km (33.4 miles). It connects the islands
of
Honshu and
Hokkaido in
Japan as part of the
JR
Kaikyo Line.
The tunnel was completed in
1988. The volcanic rock beneath the
Tsugaru Strait was too unstable for boring, so engineers had to blast
most of the tunnel out with
dynamite.
The double-track railway inside the tunnel is built with three rails,
so that it can handle both
narrow gauge and
standard gauge trains. Currently, only narrow gauge trains use the
tunnel: there are long-term plans to link the tunnel into the
Shinkansen network, although these are not expected to be completed
until after 2020.
There are two train stations inside the tunnel (Yoshioka-Kaitei
Station and
Tappi-Kaitei Station), both of which are museums detailing the history
and function of the tunnel.
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