Łupkowie Tunnel
| Łupków Tunnel | |
|---|---|
Portal of the Łupków Tunnel | |
Interactive map of Łupków Tunnel | |
| Overview | |
| Other names | Łupkowski Tunnel; Lupkower Tunnel (German) |
| Line | Michaľany–Łupków railway / Łupków–Przemyśl railway |
| Location | Łupków Pass, on the border of Poland and Slovakia |
| Status | Active[1] |
| Crosses | Łupków Pass, between the Bieszczady Mountains and the Low Beskids |
| Start | Stary Łupków side |
| End | Palota side |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 30 May 1874[2][1] |
| Owner | PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe / Železnice Slovenskej republiky |
| Operator | PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe / Železnice Slovenskej republiky |
| Traffic | Railway |
| Character | Cross-border single-track railway tunnel |
| Technical | |
| Length | 416 m (1,365 ft)[2][1] |
The Łupków Tunnel (Polish: Tunel łupkowski; Slovak: Lupkovský tunel)[3][4][5] is a railway tunnel beneath the Łupków Pass on the border between Poland and Slovakia. It links Stary Łupków on the Polish side with Palota on the Slovak side and forms part of the historic railway route connecting Galicia with the former Kingdom of Hungary.[2][1]
At 416 m (1,365 ft) in length, it is one of the best-known international railway tunnels in the Carpathians. Atlas Kolejowy notes that 234 m (768 ft) of the tunnel lies in Slovakia, leaving about 182 m (597 ft) on the Polish side.[1]
Description
The tunnel passes beneath the Łupków Pass, an important historic route through the Carpathians between the Bieszczady Mountains and the Low Beskids.[2] It carries a single railway track and today forms the border crossing between the Polish and Slovak railway networks.[1]
According to Atlas Kolejowy, the tunnel is 416 m (1,365 ft) long and remains in use. The same source states that it was originally built as a double-track structure but, after post-war reconstruction, has operated as a single-track tunnel.[1]
Dominas notes that the completed tunnel was driven on a gradient of 25‰ and that the final built design replaced earlier, more ambitious plans for a much longer tunnel of about 750 m.[2]
History
The tunnel was constructed in the early 1870s as part of the First Hungarian-Galician Railway, intended to create a direct rail connection between Galicia and Hungary through the Łupków Pass.[2]
Przemysław Dominas describes the project as one of the most difficult 19th-century tunnel works on the territory of present-day Poland.[2] Work on the new tunnel headings began in early April 1871. During construction, engineers encountered major geological problems, including water ingress, landslides in the southern approach cutting, and cracking of the masonry lining.[2]
Because of these difficulties, the line was temporarily worked by substitute transport on both sides of the unfinished tunnel, and even a temporary trolley system was used to move goods through the partly completed structure while reconstruction of the lining continued.[2]
The tunnel was officially opened to traffic on 30 May 1874.[2][1] Dominas states that although the tunnel entered service on that date, reconstruction of the cracking lining continued until October 1876. The prolonged works and the need to import granite for the lining caused the final cost to rise dramatically above the original estimate.[2]
During the Second World War, the tunnel was damaged and later rebuilt. Atlas Kolejowy states that after reconstruction in 1945 it remained in service as a single-track tunnel.[1]
Later operation
Dominas notes that regular rail traffic through the tunnel was restored again on 27 June 1999 after a long interruption in cross-border use, and that in the following decades both passenger and freight traffic operated only intermittently.[2]
The Łupków Tunnel remains an important historic engineering structure and one of the most recognizable railway monuments of the Polish-Slovak border region.[2]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Lupkovský (tunel)" (in Polish). Atlas Kolejowy Polski, Czech i Słowacji. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Dominas, Przemysław (2020). "Tunele kolejowe w Polsce w cieniu kryzysu, na przykładzie tuneli w Rydułtowach, Łupkowie i Warszawie". A jednak kolej! Kolej wobec kryzysów (PDF) (in Polish). Wrocław: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej. pp. 46–51. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
- ^ "Lupkovský tunel". www.rail.sk. Retrieved 12 March 2026.
- ^ "Rok 1946: Na východe republiky znovuotvorili Lupkovský tunel - fotografie - Vtedy". Vtedy.sk. Retrieved 12 March 2026.
- ^ Teraz.sk (10 November 2021). "Lupkovský tunel bol v čase svojho vzniku najdrahším na svete". TERAZ.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 12 March 2026.