Norway’s Answer To The Euro Tunnel?

Now why didn’t I think of this!!

Alaska has the Inside Passenger, Panama has the Panama Canal and now Norway has the Under mountain Passage!!

The Government of Norway has backed an amazing plan to create a very first of its kind, an passage which runs under the mountain to secure the safety of ships in the area.The Stad peninsula on Norway’s western coast is notorious for heavy weather that can endanger ships – the country’s highest wind speeds are commonly recorded on the promontory and ships are routinely delayed by stormy conditions.

At 45m high (148ft) and 36m (118ft) wide, the 1.7km (one mile) long Stad Ship
Tunnel will be the only one of its kind – a passage through solid rock able to
accommodate 16,000 tonne freight and passenger ships.

 “It isn’t an unheard of challenge, it involves building a cofferdam at either end to keep the water out until excavation is
complete,” explains Robert Benaim, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Instead of carving out a slice of the landscape for a canal, engineers will
drill and blast through the rock at sea level before removing the dams so the
sea can flood a 12m (39ft) deep channel for ships to travel in.Instead of carving out a slice of the landscape for a canal, engineers will drill and blast through the rock at sea level before removing the dams so the
sea can flood a 12m (39ft) deep channel for ships to travel in.

A recent review also found 46 accidents and near-accidents and 33 deaths had
occurred in the waters since the end of World War II. Randi Humborstad, project
leader at Nordfjord Vekst, the organisation behind the tunnel plans, cites a
161-passenger cruise ship that was almost shipwrecked in 2004 as further
evidence of the area’s fierce conditions.

In a country where the shipping industry is the second most important after gas
and oil, the tunnel makes sense, Humborstad suggests.

Norway has a reputation as the world-leader in tunnelling. They have already
achieved the world’s longest road tunnel.

While it will be the first proper ship tunnel, the engineering behind it will
not involve radical innovation.

It is the expense that has kept the project on the back-burner since it was
first dreamed up in the 19th Century. The budget is an estimated 1.7 billion
kroner (£193 million).

More news to be realised soon!!