Mount Cenis Tunnel

Mount Cenis Tunnel, rail tunnel from Modane, France, to Bardonècchia, Italy, the first great Alpine tunnel to be completed. Opened in 1871, the tunnel runs 13.7 km (8.5 miles) under the Fréjus Pass. Mount Cenis was the first long-distance rock tunnel driven from two headings with no intervening shafts and, as such, remains a landmark engineering achievement. Running roughly parallel with it is the Fréjus Tunnel (12.9 km [8 miles] long), which was completed in 1980 and carries automobile traffic.

The Mont Cenis Tunnel required 14 years (1857–71) to complete. Its engineer, Germain Sommeiller, introduced many pioneering techniques, including rail-mounted drill carriages, the use of dynamite in rock blasting, hydraulic ram air compressors, and construction camps for workers complete with dormitories, family housing, schools, hospitals, a recreation building, and repair shops. Sommeiller also designed an air drill that eventually made it possible to move the tunnel ahead at the rate of 4.6 metres (15 feet) per day; the drill was used in several later European tunnels until replaced by more durable drills developed in the United States by Simon Ingersoll and others on the Hoosac Tunnel in Massachusetts. Compressed-air machinery was also developed by Daniel Colladon of Geneva. As this long tunnel was driven from two headings separated by 12 km (7.5 miles) of mountainous terrain, surveying techniques had to be refined. Ventilation became a major problem, which was solved by the use of forced air from water-powered fans and a horizontal diaphragm at mid-height, forming an exhaust duct at the top of the tunnel.