The South Alps Tunnel is 25 kilometers long and spans Yamanashi, Shizuoka, and Nagano prefectures.
The "Hirokawa Emergency Exit" (tunnel) was opened to the public. About 3.3 kilometers of the 4.1-kilometer length was drilled. The current tip is about 800 meters deep below the surface. When completed, it will connect to the main tunnel through which the linear line will pass, and serve as an evacuation route. Workers are digging at a pace of 3 to 4 meters per day, using dynamite and excavators. Construction is said to be going well and it is expected to complete the evacuation tunnel in about a year.
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The geological structure of the Southern Alps is complex, and there are fracture zones that tend to contain a lot of water. But, according to JR Tokai, the total amount of water flowing from the Hirogawara emergency exit is only 0.4 tons per minute, equivalent to two bathtubs, which seems to be less than JR Tokai had expectd.
Source: Summary and translation of [url]https://www.sankeibiz.jp/business/news/ ... n1.htm[url] Accesssed: 2021-05-12.
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