Kaunas Railway Tunnel – One of the Oldest Tunnels in Europe

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Although the first rail tracks used for transporting wagons pulled by animals or even people were built in 6 BC, the modern railway is a nineteenth century invention. Railways have changed the world: not only have they speeded up communication, they have also expanded people’s imaginations. Compared to traveling by carriage or boat, the incredibly high speed of the train gave a new sense of movement in space, suggesting that anything might be possible. In addition, railways encouraged the growth of cities. Kaunas, the second largest city in Lithuania, would certainly not have become an important industrial center if it were not for the Kaunas–Virbalis railway branch. When it was built, the city grew and large industrial companies began to develop in the area around the railway station.

Railways are inseparable from the tunnels which are built when the tracks are blocked by hills or rocks. The Kaunas Railway Tunnel on the Kaunas–Vilnius railroad is one of the oldest in Europe and the only one still operating in the Baltic States. It is impressive that this tunnel started operating earlier than the world’s first London Underground line. Kaunas was two years ahead of London – the construction of the Kaunas tunnel was completed on 1 November 1861 and it was opened in the spring of 1862.

The tunnel was built according to the design of the famous Lithuanian engineer Stanislovas Kerbedis. It is a real masterpiece of engineering from that time, a tunnel 1,28 km long, 8,44 m wide and 6,95 m high dug through a 30 m hill. It is also unique because it has no artificial ventilation: due to the natural slope, the wind blows or draws out the train smoke. Two railway tracks were laid in the tunnel to allow trains to pass each other.

The shafts and galleries of the tunnel were excavated by German and French miners. The bricks were made in Lithuania and specifically imported from the Netherlands and Germany were used for its vaults, and the walls were made of granite slabs. This tunnel was so strong that when it was blown up at the end of World War II, to make communication more difficult, seven wagons of explosives were needed. The explosion caused a lot of damage: it made huge pits – some were even 16 m in diameter and 7 m deep. When the Soviets occupied Lithuania and needed to restore communications, they rebuilt the tunnel in just forty days. Sadly, there were victims in the reconstruction process: four workers were poisoned by carbon dioxide and died after an explosion in the tunnel. The rush also meant that the reconstructed tunnel was not as well-built: it was 30 m shorter and groundwater began to accumulate in it.

The Kaunas Railway Tunnel was renovated again in 2009, and in 2019 it was fitted with European and wide-gauge tracks – today, there is no other tunnel like it in the world.