A new breakthrough for the construction of the tunnel through the Gaoligong Mountains was made on July 30. The tunnel, dug by the China Railway Tunnel Group Co., Ltd., is along the Dali-Ruili railway line, a national key project. The small-mileage parallel adit for inclined shaft was connected with the entrance. This solved the problem of the reverse-slope drainage of the longest inclined railway shaft, laying a solid foundation for opening the China-Myanmar international railway, the western line of the pan-Asia railway under the Belt and Road Initiative. 

Stretching 34.538 kilometers in length, the Gaoligong Mountain Rail Tunnel is the world’s first super project through the Hengduan Mountains. Passing through 19 active fault belts, the tunnel construction had to deal with rarely-seen complicated geological conditions, and thus is known as one of the hardest tunnel projects in the world. The 3,870-meter-long inclined shaft is the longest of its kind in China.

When the Dali-Ruili railway is completed, the travel time by railway from Kunming, the provincial capital, to Ruili will be reduced from nine hours to five hours.