AN underwater tunnel between Spain and Morocco is reported to be one step nearer to fruition after a agency was chosen to conduct a feasibility examine.
German underground boring specialists Herrenknecht, who specialize in tunneling utilizing the biggest drilling machines on this planet, have been awarded the €300,000 contract by their Spanish subsidiary, in keeping with experiences in Morocco.
Herrenknecht boasts a observe file of prestigious tunnelling initiatives, together with Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland, which is the world’s longest and deepest railway tunnel at 57 km lengthy.
The German specialists additionally constructed the brand new Thames Tideway Tunnel, also called London’s ‘tremendous sewer’, and Qatar’s metro system in Doha constructed forward of the 2022 World Cup.
They are going to be tasked with investigating whether or not the proposed €7 billion tunnel, which might run 300 metres deep underground between Tarifa and Tangier, is mostly a possible engineering feat.
The plans, which might surpass the size of each the Channel Tunnel and Japan’s Seikan Tunnel, have already seen mixed investments of €104 million from Spain and Morocco since preliminary research started.
An extra €2 million in EU restoration funds has been allotted to replace technical research and digitise plans for the mega-project, which might take over 20 years.
Formidable estimates predict that 13 million passengers might cross between Morocco and Spain annually on the prepare, which might contain a double-rail observe and an extra service line stretching 38.5 kilometres .
The Spanish government-owned firm Secegsa has lately contracted 4 seismographs, for a cool €480,000, to guage seismic dangers in collaboration with the US Geological Survey.
The challenge envisions two railway tunnels that may join Spain’s rail community to Morocco’s, although vital infrastructure upgrades could be wanted on the Spanish facet.
Secegsa’s government president Jose Luis Goberna Caride has already mentioned that whereas preliminary research could value as much as €1 billion, this funding is essential for correct value and timeline projections for the ultimate construct.
The challenge, first conceived in 1979 following a gathering between Spain’s King Juan Carlos I and Morocco’s Hassan II, has seen durations of each progress and stagnation, typically reflecting the state of Spanish-Moroccan relations.
If accomplished, the tunnel would create the primary fastened hyperlink between Europe and Africa, probably remodeling commerce routes between the 2 continents and marking some of the vital engineering achievements in fashionable historical past.
