7 record-breaking tunnels from around the world | Fox News 7 record-breaking tunnels from around the world Published April 04, 2013 Facebook 0 Twitter 0 livefyre Email Print Tunnels provide travelers with a quick and easy way to access hard-to-reach destinations, so it’s no surprise that every year cities map out new tunnel designs. But high-tech building materials and advances in design are allowing for engineering feats never seen before. At higher altitudes, over longer distances, here are seven record-breaking tunnels that are stand alone tourist destinations. 1. Gotthard Base Tunnel, Switzerland AlpTransit Gotthard Ltd. Once completed in 2016, the Gotthard Base Tunnel will be the longest railway tunnel in the world. The 35-mile tunnel cuts under the Swiss Alps at 8,000 feet below sea level and is expected to reduce travel time between Zurich and Milan by about an hour. The building of the tunnel was an arduous feat as eight lives were lost during the process. For an up-close look at the construction, the public can visit a multimedia exhibition for free or take a tour of a construction site along the tunnel. 2.

Yerba Buena Island Tunnel, California Caltrans To cross over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, drivers must travel through Yerba Buena Island by way of the Yerba Buena Island Tunnel. The tunnel, completed in 1936, remains the largest single-bore tunnel in the world, measuring 76 feet wide and 58 feet high. To accommodate the large amount of traffic that travels across the bridge, the tunnel consists of two decks, each carrying five lanes. 3. Lærdal Tunnel, Norway Innovation Norway Stretching 15 miles long, the Lærdal Tunnel is the longest road tunnel in the world. The tunnel cuts through a mountain range that sits between the cities of Oslo and Bergen, providing a faster and safer route for drivers, especially during the wintertime. To keep drivers alert during the 20-minute underground journey, architects built in three “caves” or resting areas that feature vivid blue and yellow lights. 4. Aizhai Extra Large Suspension Bridge, China Hunan Government This two-way, four-lane bridge is the highest and longest tunnel-to-tunnel suspension bridge in the world.

The bridge, built to ease traffic, measures almost 4,000 feet long and crosses over a canyon 1,164 feet deep. It carries the Jishou-Chadong Expressway, which runs through a total of 18 different tunnels. 5. Channel Tunnel Eurotunnel The Channel Tunnel, commonly referred to as the Chunnel, is the world’s longest undersea tunnel. Of its 31 miles, 23 miles are situated beneath the English Channel. The tunnel transports passengers and freight from Folkestone, Kent in England to Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais in France in as little as 30 minutes. As an added bonus, the Le shuttle and Eurostar trains that travel through the tunnel operate 365 days a year. 6. Seikan Tunnel, Japan Hokkaido Railway Company Until the Gotthard Base Tunnel is completed in 2016, the Seikan Tunnel holds the title of the longest operational railway tunnel in the world. Completed in 1988, the tunnel measures 33.5 miles long and links the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido.

It is located almost 800 feet below sea level (beneath the Tsugaru Strait), making it one of the deepest railway tunnels in the world. Before the installation of the tunnel, ferries carried passengers across the strait, but when a typhoon sank five ferries killing over 1,000 people, Japan honed in on a new means of transportation. 7. Fenghuo Mount Tunnel, China AP The Fenghuo Mount Tunnel is the world’s highest railway tunnel, reaching an elevation of 16,093 feet. The tunnel encases part of the scenic Golmud-to-Lhasa route, which is a route on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. The train that travels the railway is nicknamed the “rocket to the rooftop of the world” because 80% of its route is at an elevation above 13,000 feet. To compensate for the lack of oxygen at such an altitude, the train is equipped with two oxygen sources as well as personal oxygen canisters.

Advertisement Feb 7, 2012 12:06pm Lake Vostok, Sealed in Antarctic Ice, Reached by Russian Drillers Two and a half miles beneath Antarctica�s ice lies Lake Vostok, a mysterious body of water, 160 miles long and 30 miles wide, that is believed to have been sealed off from the rest of the world for 20 million years. Now, the Russians, who run the Vostok research station at the surface, say they may have reached the lake with a drill bit, though they are still checking their data. The plan was for the drill to break through the ice into the hidden lake, and automatically withdraw so as not to contaminate the water below. ... Lake Vostok, seen so far only on radar, is believed to be warmed by geothermal energy. But why drill to it, beyond feeling the tug of mystery? �According to our research, the quantity of oxygen there exceeds that on other parts of our planet by 10 to 20 times. Any life forms that we find are likely to be unique on Earth,� said Sergey Bulat, the chief scientist of Russia�s Antarctic Expedition, as quoted by Russian Reporter magazine.

There are other scientists who are doubtful. Too much oxygen, they argue, could actually be toxic to life. So Lake Vostok could turn out to be unique � the first place found on Earth where there is water in liquid form but nothing living. ... The Russians, despite the cold, despite limited money for scientific research, have been drilling down toward Lake Vostok for 14 years now. What will they find in the water there? Lake Vostok: Russian Scientists Claim Success in Antarctic ... Valery Lukin, the head of Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) in charge of the mission, said in a statement today that his team reached the lake's surface Sunday. They had been cautious until now, saying they wanted to check readings from sensors on their remote-controlled drill. ... Scientists watching the project said they worried that 66 tons of lubricants and antifreeze used in the drilling might spoil the pristine lake. But Lukin said in his statement that about 1.5 cubic meters of kerosene and freon poured into tanks on the surface from the boreshaft, proof that the lake water streamed from beneath, froze, and blocked the hole. ...

« Reply #82 on: February 08, 2012, 03:38:38 PM » boring of Israel's first-ever railway tunnel On February 6, 2012, the boring of Israel's first-ever railway tunnel began. A tunnel boring machine (TBM) began digging a 3.6 km tunnel from Latrun to Shaar Hagay. Two additional TBMs will soon begin to dig two more tunnels between Nahal Yitleh and Nahal Luz near Mevaseret Tzion; each one would be 11.5 km long, qualifying as Israel's longest tunnels. By 2017, a fast train would cross the tunnels regularly, linking Tel Aviv and Jerusalem�via Ben Gurion Airport and Modiin�in just 28 minutes. ... The railway would be able to deliver troops and weapons to a Jerusalem under siege when the time comes; the tunnel will assure that the new route is more defensible than Highway #1. ... In 2017, the first passengers are expected to reach the underground Jerusalem Railway Station, deep below downtown Jerusalem.

Elevators and escalators will help them to ascend the eighty meters separating the railway from the surface. This sounds similar to the soviet nuclear bunkers disguised as metro stations in Moscow. In fact, this is another Israeli attempt to camouflage Jerusalem and prepare it against a possible answer to an Israeli attack on Iran. Israel still lives the Burma Road trauma. ... Video: The Train is Coming to Jerusalem Arutz Sheva was present as workers began boring the railway tunnels that will connect Jerusalem to Tel Aviv « Reply #84 on: February 17, 2012, 11:45:55 PM » Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology is an international journal which publishes authoritative articles encompassing the development of innovative uses of underground space and the results of high quality research into improved, more cost-effective techniques for the planning, geo-investigation, design, construction, operation and maintenance of underground and earth-sheltered structures. The journal provides an effective vehicle for the improved worldwide exchange of information on developments in underground technology - and the experience gained from its use - and is strongly committed to publishing papers on the interdisciplinary aspects of creating, planning, and regulating underground space.

Towards this end, up-to-date reports of the International Tunnelling Association (ITA) working groups and important papers from major conferences sponsored by the ITA and other bodies are a regular feature of the journal. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ « Reply #89 on: February 20, 2012, 02:00:21 AM » How did I miss this story? China 'has up to 3,000 nuclear weapons hidden in tunnels', three-year study of secret documents reveals Georgetown University student spent three years translating secret military documents and blogs Focus of research centred on 3,000 miles of underground tunnels dug by Second Artillery Corps Investigation launched after 2008 earthquake in Sichuan revealed existence of collapsed tunnels Study claims China could have as many as 3,000 nuclear warheads - far more then current estimates of between 80 and 400 By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 2:36 PM on 1st December 2011 China may be using thousands of miles of underground tunnels to hide a nuclear missile arsenal that is far bigger than current estimates, according to researchers.

They spent three years translating secret military documents, scouring the internet and studying satellite images for clues � and concluded that China may have as many as 3,000 missiles, compared with general estimates of between 80 and 400. The researchers at Georgetown University, led by a former senior Pentagon official, concentrated on a 3,000-mile network of tunnels dug largely in Sichuan province by the Chinese Second Artillery, a secretive unit responsible for protecting the country�s nuclear weapons. In 2008, thousands of radiation technicians were sent to the region after it was hit by a huge earthquake. When TV pictures showed oddly collapsed hills across the province, officials eventually admitted there was a network of tunnels underneath, dubbing it their �Underground Great Wall�. The 363-page study, as yet unpublished, has been discussed in Congress and circulated among defence officials. It was commissioned as �homework� by the students� professor, Phillip Karber, a prominent Washington defence strategist during the Cold War. ... China has long been the most secretive of the five nuclear powers recognised by the international Non-Proliferation Treaty.

While Russia and America have bilateral treaties that ensure their stockpiles are monitored, the Chinese have simply claimed they keep a small number of missiles for �minimum deterrence�. ... American Timken Company makes parts for China Record setting TBMs on Yellow River drives Four tunnel boring machines working on the Yellow River Diversion project in Shanxi Province in China are setting record rates of performance and advance. Portal of Tunnel 5 and culvert between Tunnels 5 and 6 on the Lot II contract Since starting in 1998/1999 the four � 5m o. d. machines two new Robbins TBMs, a used Robbins TBM, and a new NFM-Boretec machine - have turned in averages of up to 220m/week each and a combined average of more than 3,060m/month working three 8h shifts/24h day, 6 days/week. In January 2000, one of the new Robbins TBMs recorded an advance of 1,821m of 4.92m o. d. (4.3m i. d.) lined tunnel in one month.

Even the slowest of the four machines has averaged nearly 800m/month for more than a year. While recognizing these data as world records of their class, a visit to the project presented one of those rare opportunities to examine the experiences, performances and details of a group of similar sized machines working through similar host rock material, and to understand the influences that affect project-wide progress. The four machines are working towards completing some 88.7km of 4.2 to 4.3m i. d. reinforced precast concrete segmentally lined water tunnel for the project on Lots II and III. These two contracts were awarded in August 1997 to a JV of Impregilo (Sponsor - 48%) and CMC (42%) of Italy and with Chinese partner construction Bureau 4 of CWCHM, the China Water Conservancy and Hydropower Ministry (10%). Adaptation of Underground Space An examination of the opportunities and challenges of keeping paper, film, and magnetic media in underground facilities by Tom Benjamin March 1999 The degree of security afforded your important records is one of the most important considerations when choosing a records storage site whether on-site or off-site.

Nothing else will matter if something happens to your important records. A visual inspection and evaluation of your records storage location could be the best time investment you might ever make Hey, you're underground and in the middle of no where! Low cost compared to above ground. Underground construction costs are relatively low. Underground maintenance costs are low. Underground power costs are low. Underground property taxes are low. Around the USA and elsewhere you'll find deep vaults that have been carved out of the earth. Some were former mines where the resources have dried up. Here you'll find secure storage facilities. Some for private individuals, works of art, government files, compressed air and more. Who knows, there may be one under your feet right now example: Louisville's Underground-the 100-acre cavern under the Louisville Zoo has remained an unrealized business opportunity, virtually dormant since the last load of limestone was mined nearly 20 years ago to build bridges and roads across the Midwest. Industrial leasing activity remains strong at Meritex Lenexa underground. Meritex announces five new leases and tenant expansions totaling 173,000 square feet of space at Meritex Lenexa Executive Park.

Lenexa, KS (PRWEB) March 01, 2012 Meritex announces five new leases and tenant expansions totaling 173,000 square feet of space at Meritex Lenexa Executive Park. Leasing activity in 2012 has started off strong following more than 370,000 square feet of leasing activity last year. �This winter has been fairly mild, but it�s continued to stay �hot� in our underground project,� said Lonnie Cannon Property/Leasing Manager. �We continue to see tenants and prospects wanting to take advantage of the underground economies.� Hour Two: Limestone Living: Converting Mines to Human Space What to do with an old limestone mine? Fill it -- with people, supplies, offices, and warehouses. In the greater Kansas City area, an estimated 20 million square feet of business and industrial space lies below the ground, squirreled away in space created by the mining of Bethany Falls and Argentine limestone. That accounts for over 10 percent of the business and industrial space in the area. When mining began in the area in the late 1800's, limestone was mainly quarried.

But starting in the 1950's, mining began to take place with an aim to leaving usable subterranean space behind. Tunneling into the hills and bluffs in the area, miners carefully extracted stone in a grid-shaped pattern, leaving behind large rooms with massive, evenly spaced pillars holding up the "roof" of the mine. Miners remove a 12-foot thick layer of rock some 150 feet underground, leaving a thick ceiling between the underground space and the outside world. A truck in part of Subtropolis. >Hunt Midwest photo) Costs for converting such spaces are low - the process mainly involves painting, pouring a concrete floor, wiring, and putting up a few walls. Consequently, leasing costs are also low -- in some cases, half of what above-ground space would lease for. The relatively constant temperature, around 65 degrees, makes the old mines a useful place for long-term archival storage. (The original prints of 'Ben Hur' and 'Gone With the Wind' call a Kansas City area mine home.) Costs for insurance, taxes, heating and cooling, and security are also less underground. Food companies use the space, saving on refrigeration costs.

The US Postal Service, the largest tenant of underground space in the area, uses mine space for fulfilling orders for stamps for collectors. A massive duty-free warehouse holds goods from around the world. Other uses for the space have included a college library, health center, and computer lab. The Bettmann Archive is a collection of 19 million photographs and images, some going back to the United States Civil War and including some of the best known U.S. historic images. The Archive also includes many images from Europe and elsewhere ... In 1981, Bettmann sold the archive to the Kraus Thomson Organization. In 1995, the archive was sold to Corbis, a digital stock photography company founded by Bill Gates. Issues arising from this sale regarding the restriction of access to the collection were described in the editorial "Goodbye to All That" in the May 2001 issue of American Heritage magazine.[1] In 2002, to preserve the photos and negatives, Corbis moved the archive from Manhattan to the Iron Mountain National Underground Storage Facility, a former limestone quarry located 220 feet (67 m) below ground in western Pennsylvania. ...

The archive began with Otto Bettmann's personal collection of 15,000 images which he brought with him in suitcases when he escaped from Nazi Germany.[1] Over the years, it acquired other collections, including the Gendreau Collection of Americana in 1967, the Underwood & Underwood Collection of material from late 19th century to World War I in 1971, and the United Press International collection in 1984. ... The best known Iron Mountain storage facility is a high-security storage facility in a former limestone mine at Boyers, Pennsylvania near the city of Butler in the United States. It began storing records in 1954 and was purchased by Iron Mountain in 1998. It is here that Bill Gates stores his Corbis photographic collection in a refrigerated cave 220 feet (67 m) underground.[10] Iron Mountain has additional underground storage facilities in the United States and the rest of the world. Most of the company's over 1,000 storage locations are in above-ground leased warehouse space located near customers.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 21, 2011 Underground Archives Joins Forces with Hollywood Vaults WAMPUM, PA � Underground Archives, a company specializing in archival records management, has announced a partnership with Hollywood Vaults to offer a unique cold storage solution for the long-term archival preservation of film and media assets. The subterranean vault, built by Underground Archives in its highly secure facility, is provided to Hollywood Vaults� clients for all of their specialized cold storage and preservation needs. « Reply #95 on: March 21, 2012, 06:39:53 PM » Plattsburg AFB NY Plattsburgh Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force Strategic Air Command (SAC) base covering 3,447 acres (13.7 km�)[1] in the extreme northeast corner of New York, 20 miles (32 km) south of the Canadian border. It is located on the western shore of Lake Champlain[2] opposite Burlington, Vermont, in the city of Plattsburgh, New York. ... Atlas Missiles Plattsburgh AFB had the only intercontinental ballistic missiles ever deployed east of the Mississippi River.

During 1961 and 1962, the physical appearance of the area surrounding Plattsburgh AFB underwent changes as construction began on 12 Atlas F missile sites. The sites were built within a 50 miles (80 km) radius of the base and were completed in 1963, at an average cost of $3 million each. The missile silos were built inside gigantic holes 174 feet (53 m) deep and 54 feet (16 m) wide into solid rock. Approximately 8,000 cubic yards (6,100 m3) of concrete and tons of structural steel were used in each hole to create a blast proof, underground silo, protected by massive overhead doors for the 81-foot (25 m) tall missiles. A single underground blockhouse containing launch consoles and personnel quarters was constructed at each site. The squadron was equipped with 13 missiles, allowing each silo to have its Atlas missile with one left for spare. When one missile in a silo was scheduled for maintenance, the spare missile kept at PAFB was sent to replace it.

This allowed the 380th to maintain 12 ready to launch missiles seven days a week. All sites were in New York state except for two located on the other side of Lake Champlain in Vermont. The 556th Strategic Missile Squadron, formerly assigned to Presque Isle Air Force Base, Maine, was transferred to Plattsburgh AFB on 1 October 1961 and became completely operational on 20 December 1962. This was the last Atlas squadron to be accepted. The 556th's last operational day was 30 April 1965 with the Squadron's inactivation on 25 June 1965. The inactivation was part of a phase-out of US first-generation missiles, the Atlas series and Titan 1 models, which was announced by Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense, on 19 November 1964.

With Commentary By Shepard Ambellas & Alex Thomas April 10, 2012 (The following is Part 1 of an exclusive underground base series brought to you by The Intel Hub with excerpts from the book Hidden in Plain Sight: Beyond the X-Files, written by acclaimed underground base researcher and author, Dr. Richard Sauder.) In the preliminary stages of my research in the early 1990s, I had no informed idea of how deep below the surface underground bases could reach. By chance I had gone to hear a public talk by a man I did not know, on a topic that had nothing whatsoever to do with underground bases. However, during the talk he unexpectedly made an offhand comment that caused me to think that he knew something about secret underground facilities. A few days later, I telephoned him and asked if I could come by his office to speak with him. He consented to give me a little of his time, so I went by and asked him some questions, including about a specific location where I believed there was a secret underground base. He verified that there was a base there and told me that it was one mile deep. At the time, that seemed improbably deep to me.

I now understand, however, that it is well within the state of the art of the underground excavation and construction industries to build facilities one mile deep. In fact, facilities can be even deeper than that. Other information that has since been given to me has raised the question of facilities possibly as deep as 12 to 14 miles. Frankly, I do not know what the technological limits are in the super-secret, black budget realm of compartmentalized programs. But I can make some fairly well educated deductions based on what I have been told and information gleaned from the open engineering and industrial literature. At a minimum, my investigation suggests that depths up to three miles are feasible, and that conclusion is based on a careful reading of the open scientific, mining and civil engineering literature. At one time I considered greater depths than that as unattainable, but no longer. While I don�t know the limitations of the technology in the clandestine realm, based on everything I have heard over the years it must surpass the limits found in the open technical literature. It could be that with classified improvements in material science and mining engineering that bases can be sited many miles beneath the surface of the land or the seafloor.

Frankly, I now surmise that we are dealing with a science-fiction-like reality that has been held back from public knowledge. In that regard, it is clear to me that there are power structures on this planet that closely interface with, and yet remain separate from, the official power establishment of any nation as publicly presented in the mainstream news media. The sum total of all the many years of reading and research I have done, coupled with the myriad conversations I have had with an extremely eclectic selection of individuals, even raises the question as to whether some control structures and agencies for this planet may possibly extend off-planet. But even if that is not the case, we are certainly dealing at the least with trillions of dollars of off-the-books money, very advance technology, an incredible infrastructure of secrecy, thousands and thousands of people who are in the know but say little or nothing about what they know, all of which revolves around projects of tremendous scope and complexity, carried out over a long period of time, and about which there is almost zero public knowledge.

Alex Thomas: �The trillions of dollars off the books, advanced technology, and the infrastructure of secrecy have all been brought about by numerous globalist organizations such as the CFR, the Trilateral Commission, and the Bilderberg Group as well as many other even more secretive groups that are not even known by name. Those involved with underground bases may literally know that they will be immediately killed if they speak out about what they know.� I don�t know how many secret underground bases there are, but they surely do exist, there is no question of that. In 1987, Lloyd A. Duscha, the then-Deputy Director of Engineering and Construction for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, gave a talk at an engineering conference entitled �Underground Facilities for Defense � Experience and Lessons.� In the first paragraph of his talk he stated that: After World War II, political and economic factors changed the underground construction picture and caused a renewed interest to �think underground.� As a result of this interest, the Corps of Engineers became involved in the design and construction of some very complex and interesting military projects.

[1] A little further on he said: Although the conference program indicates the topic to be �Underground Facilities for Defense � Experience and Lessons,� I must deviate a little because several of the most interesting facilities that have been designed and constructed by the Corps are classified. [2] Subsequently Mr. Duscha went into a discussion of the Corps� involvement in the 1960s in the construction of the large and elaborate NORAD base buried deep beneath Cheyenne Mountain, in Colorado. And then he said: As stated earlier, there are other projects of similar scope, which I cannot identify, but which included multiple chambers up to 50 feet wide and 100 feet high using the same excavation procedures mentioned for the NORAD facility. [3] You will not find a franker public admission of the existence of secret, underground bases than that. It carries all the more weight coming from Lloyd Duscha, given his high position in the military-industrial complex. Shepard: �I myself have conducted an interview with the owner of a major private underground base & shelter construction firm. What he told Bob Tuskin and myself off air during a commercial break was absolutely mind-blowing.

He literally admitted that most of his clientele is Illuminati affiliated, including politicians, movie stars, and more. He maintained that client confidentiality was a factor, claiming that half of the business is reinforced homes. Leaving the other 50% up to speculation. The company has even built 3 massive arks for a doomsday scenario just like you see in the movie 2012. This was covered by CNN.� The Project Paperclip, Nazi Connection It is not accidental that Lloyd Duscha mentioned the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers� increased interest in underground bases and construction in the post-World War II period. In the closing stages of WW II, the U.S. military overran the Third Reich and confiscated a treasure trove of Nazi technology, engineering facilities and research laboratories. The American military also apprehended and detained large numbers of Nazi scientists, engineers and technicians, many of whom were brought to the United States under the auspices of the infamous �Project Paperclip� and integrated into American industry, research institutes and into the military and other official agencies.

Read Project Paperclip File 1 Read Project Paperclip File 2 Read Project Paperclip File 3 The cases of such Project Paperclip notables as Wernher von Braun, and other �ex�-Nazis who were put to work building rockets and missiles for the military and NASA, are well known. The American political and military establishments were very impressed with Nazi V-2 and buzz bomb missile technology, and brought Von Braun and his team to the USA at war�s end to continue and advance the research and design they had done under Hitler�s Third Reich. The development of the manned space program, satellite technology, deep space probes, intercontinental nuclear missiles and cruise missiles are all fruits of their work. But Project Paperclip had another aspect which has received almost no publicity. And that aspect had to do with the underground facilities that the American military discovered when they entered the remnants of the Third Reich in the concluding stages of open military hostilities between the Allied and Axis powers in the European theater. I have two declassified Project Paperclip memoranda in my files that specifically request four men with expertise in underground construction, one of whom is Xaver Dorsch.

Project Paperclip File Xaver Dorsch File The other men are not known to me, but Xaver Dorsch is. He was the director of the so-called Todt Organization in the closing phase of WW II. The Todt Organization was originally headed by Fritz Todt, whence the name. Fritz Todt was the designer and creator of the well-known German autobahn system of highways. The Todt organization served a somewhat analogous function in the Third Reich to that of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or the U.S. Navy Seabees in the present American military system. Advertisement In other words, it was a civil engineering agency that supported the operations of the German military, though, unlike the case of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or the U.S. Navy Seabees in the American system, the Todt Organization was not a formal part of the German military structure. However, it did play a crucial role in the Nazi war effort and constructed many facilities for use by the German military and industry. Some of the underground structures that it built were impressively large and sophisticated.

In 1942 Fritz Todt was killed in an airplane crash and by war�s end control of the agency had effectively passed to Xaver Dorsch. In the closing stages of the war, Hitler specifically tasked Dorsch with developing a series of huge, underground, industrial manufacturing facilities. Allied bombing raids were shredding German manufacturing and the Nazi command wanted to shift production underground, out of reach of American and British bombs. The collapse of the Third Reich ultimately put an end to those plans. I remain persuaded, however, that a great deal of what the Allies found when they went into Germany remains classified to the present day, and that includes the full extent of the underground facilities built by the Todt Organization. Xaver Dorsch was taken prisoner by the American military on 7 May 1945. I have two moderately lengthy documents that he wrote for the Americans, evidently as part of his debriefing by them.4 One was produced in 1946, the other in 1949-1950. The documents deal with the administrative structure and operational activities of the Todt Organization during the war.

I strongly suspect that Dorsch supplied a great deal more information to his American captors during that period that has yet publicly to see the light of day. Xaver Dorsch may even have worked directly for the American military on the construction of secret, underground bases in the USA, just as he had done for the Nazis during the Third Reich. It is a fact that he was in American military captivity and was requested specifically by Project Paperclip. During the course of my research I spoke with an expert who is personally familiar with some of the Nazi underground constructions in Europe and his observation to me was that they were very well made facilities. One of the best accounts of such facilities that I have found in the open literature is the anecdotal history related by Colonel Robert S. Allen that details what General Patton�s army discovered when it entered Germany in the closing stage of World War II. Col. Allen revealed that Patton�s forces found four large underground bases in the vicinity of the grim Nazi concentration camp near Ohrdruf, Germany; other underground facilities were reported in nearby towns. Col. Allen provided the following description: The underground installations were amazing. They were literally subterranean towns. There were four in and around Ohrdruf�.

None were natural caverns or mines. All were man-made military installations. The horror camp had provided the labor. An interesting feature of the construction was the absence of any spoil. It had been carefully scattered in hills miles away. Over 50 feet underground, the installations consisted of two and three stories, several miles in length and extending like the spokes of a wheel. The entire hull structure was of massive, reinforced concrete. Purpose of the installations was to house the High Command after it was bombed out of Berlin. The Ohrdruf installations were to have been used by the Signal Communications Section. One, near the horror camp, was a huge telephone exchange equipped with the latest and finest apparatus. Signal Corps experts estimated their cost at $10,000,000. This place also had paneled and carpeted offices, scores of large work and store rooms, tiled bathrooms with both tubs and showers, flush toilets, electrically equipped kitchens, decorated dining rooms and mess halls, giant refrigerators, extensive sleeping quarters, recreation rooms, separate bars for officers and enlisted personnel, a moving-picture theater, and air-conditioning and sewage systems. Begun in 1944, the installations had been completed but never occupied.

[5] The Regenwurmlager in Poland Another spectacular example of Nazi underground engineering prowess was the subterranean Regenwurmlager complex that still sprawls for many miles deep beneath the countryside of western Poland. Several years ago Paul Stonehill wrote an eye-opening article about this site, replete with color photos, in FATE magazine. [6] The Regenwurmlager was an obvious Nazi analog on the eastern German border region to the well-known Maginot Line that the French had built in their eastern border region, in that it also, like the Maginot Line, was comprised of many miles of underground tunnels and electric train lines connecting bunkers, fortifications and other critical military facilities. Amazingly, the full extent of the huge complex is not known, even today. It is not known if either the Poles or the Russians have ever fully explored the many miles of tunnels and underground emplacements. According to Stonehill, the facility has many secret or hidden entrances, and an underground subway system with an electric train on rails that ran through a tunnel approximately 100 to 165 feet below the surface.

On the surface, there were numerous military fortifications and bunkers crammed with weaponry, connected by secret passages to a sprawling labyrinth of tunnels below ground, said to be 30 miles or more in length. Stonehill reports that Adolf Hitler is alleged to have visited the Regenwurmlager in 1937, riding in on the underground subway train. [7] It happens that the Regenwurmlager complex of military bunkers and underground tunnels and subway trains was located in territory that was overrun by Soviet troops in the closing stages of World War II, so the American military may never have examined the facility. However, I consider it very likely that Xaver Dorsch would have had personal knowledge of this facility, and it is quite likely that he extensively briefed his American captors on the large Regenwurmlager system of underground tunnels and bunkers. This book cannot provide an exhaustive treatment of Nazi underground facilities, but the examples provided suffice to demonstrate that 65 to 75 years ago, Nazi engineers already had a sophisticated capability to construct elaborate, large facilities underground. The American military understood this clearly at war�s end, and urgently wanted to bring Nazi experts to the USA to build underground facilities here also.

By the time you finish this book, you should understand that this mission was accomplished. While we still do not know the full scope of what the Nazis did underground decades ago, we also still do not know the full extent of what the American military, and other agencies and corporations, have built underground right here in the USA, and elsewhere in the world. What can be said with certainty is that an extensive program of secret underground construction began in earnest in the years following WW II and that program continues in effect to this day. In part 2 of this exclusive series we will be discussing known locations of underground bases as well as areas believed to house the bigger, more secretive ones. At the conclusion of this 5 part series we will be conducting a major roundtable discussion on the the topic. Please spread this article and the entire series to your friends and family! Silver: The Achilles Heal � Physical Silver is a Stake in the Heart of the Financial Vampires (Ad) Sources 1.Lloyd A. Duscha, �Underground Facilities for Defense � Experience and Lessons,� in Tunneling and Underground Transport: Future Developments in Technology, Economics and Policy, ed. F.P.

Davidson (New York: Elsevier Science Publishing Company, Inc., 1987), pp. 109-113. 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. 4. Xaver Dorsch, Diplomingenieur, Former Head of the Chief Office of the Organisation Todt, The Organization Todt in France and Germany, Steinlager Allendorf, 1 September 1946. Also, Xaver Dorsch, Organization Todt (Dorsch Project), MS # P-037, English Copy, translated by G. Weber, edited by J.B. Robinson, reviewed by Capt. W.F. Ross, Foreign Military Studies Branch, Historical Division, Headquarters United States Army Europe, 1949-1950. 5. Colonel Robert S. Allen, Lucky Forward: The History of Patton�s Third Army (New York: The Vanguard Press, Inc., 1947). 6. Paul Stonehill, �Secrets of the Regenwurmlager,� FATE vol. 55 no. 10 issue 631 (November 2002): 28-33. 7. Ibid. 8.

�From Zero To 300 In 60 Seconds Otis High-Speed Elevator Systems Selected For Landmark 88-story Melbourne Tower,� , 2002. 9. �Micro Craft Does Major Business,� , 2002. 10. �World�s Fastest Elevator,� , 2004. 11. Jason Goodwin, Otis: Giving Rise to the Modern City (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2001). 12. Timothy Good, Alien Contact: Top-Secret UFO Files Revealed (New York: Quill, William Morrow, 1993). The White House Construction Project - "The Big Dig" In 2010, the White House Deep Underground Command Center project secretly got underway. The construction equipment arrived and tall fences went up around the West Wing of the White House. An initial ill-conceived scheme to deceive the public about the true nature of the construction led to the widespread reporting of a mere "utility upgrade" project. However, the massive scope of the construction led to many questions and outrageous conspiracy theories. ...

Deep Underground Command Center Since the early 1960's, the need for a Deep Underground Command Center (DUCC) has been studied. This Top Secret 1963 memo outlined the requirements for the construction of a DUCC. Because of limits in technology at that time, the project was deferred. Fifty years later, the DUCC is finally becoming a reality. The new underground command center serves two purposes: 1) To protect key people with sufficient staff and data to render critical decisions and 2) Ensure the survival of the facility to allow dissemination of these decisions. The DUCC can only serve this purpose if the President and his team can secretly relocate there on very short notice. Unlike the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) which is currently located below the East Wing of the White House, the DUCC will house its own massive communications center that interfaces with all military, intelligence, and critical federal agency systems. For security purposes, the exact specifications of the DUCC facility are classified.

| - -- - Re: Underground Bases and Tunnels links - Richard Sauder « Reply #106 on: September 12, 2012, 10:38:20 PM » It staggers the mind. These freaks have interconnecting tunnels, transport systems, hospitols, dining areas, command centers or basically underground citys. Our money built them, they will run there if the shit implodes. We are not card carrying elites are we, these underground rats nests are exclusive. In Turkey, underground tunnels were discovered, miles of them thousand of years old, carved in stone. Living quarters, water entrys,Air supplys, livestock areas, etc,. These were not simply caves. 200 underground cities at least two levels deep have been discovered in ... Entry is through tunnels that force one to almost crawl on occasion in order to be hidden.. The elites are privy to historical fact as we the people have been kept in a mental bubble fed shiiit, like mushrooms. Even the Vatican has records, eyes only shiite.

I can not imagine what the elite have,or the so called collectors, super-rich have spent their life and fortunes paying for discoverys we will never see. Just my oppinon...They may nuke a few areas that interfere with the goals and create terror and genocide on a controlled scale, however I have a gut feeling it will not be all out nuke war, other methods of human extermination don't mess with the green. Biowarfare, mass chemical infusion into specific areas, as one of the many. Human nature, nievity, psuedo beleifs, in some cases upper crust religion, goverment infiltrators, have and the elitist have a keen knowledge of human nature, present tech, and historical facts we will never see. A number of military citadels are known to have been constructed underground in central London, dating mostly from the Second World War and the Cold War. Unlike traditional above-ground citadels, these sites are primarily secure centres for defence coordination.

It is already well known that a large network of tunnels exists below London for a variety of communications, civil defence and military purposes.[1] [2] It is much less clear how these tunnels, and the various facilities linked to them, fit together, if at all. Even the number and nature of these facilities is unclear; only a few have been officially admitted to Pindar The most important military citadel in central London�and arguably in Britain�is Pindar, a bunker built beneath the Ministry of Defence on Whitehall. Its construction, which took ten years and reportedly cost �126.3 million, finally came to a conclusion in 1994, but Pindar became operational two years earlier, in 1992. The high cost became the subject of some controversy in the early 1990s. Much of the cost overrun was related to the facility's computer equipment, which proved extremely difficult to install due to the very limited degree of physical access to the site. Pindar's main function is to serve as a crisis management and communications centre, principally between the MOD headquarters and the actual centre of military operations, the Permanent Joint Headquarters in Northwood.

It is reported to be connected to Downing Street and the Cabinet Office by a tunnel under Whitehall.[3] In addition, despite rumours, armed Forces Minister Jeremy Hanley told the House of Commons on 29 April 1994 that "the facility is not connected to any transport system."[4] Although Pindar is not open to the public, it has had some public exposure. In the 2003 BBC documentary on the Iraq conflict, Fighting the War, BBC cameras were allowed into the facility to film a small part of a teleconference between ministers and military commanders. Also, in 2008 the British photographer David Moore published his series of photographs, The Last Things, widely believed to be an extensive photographic survey of Pindar.[5] The name Pindar is taken from the ancient Greek poet, whose house alone was left standing after his city was razed. ... The NSA Is Building the Country�s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say) By James Bamford The spring air in the small, sand-dusted town has a soft haze to it, and clumps of green-gray sagebrush rustle in the breeze.

Bluffdale sits in a bowl-shaped valley in the shadow of Utah�s Wasatch Range to the east and the Oquirrh Mountains to the west. It�s the heart of Mormon country, where religious pioneers first arrived more than 160 years ago. ... Under construction by contractors with top-secret clearances, the blandly named Utah Data Center is being built for the National Security Agency. A project of immense secrecy, it is the final piece in a complex puzzle assembled over the past decade. Its purpose: to intercept, decipher, analyze, and store vast swaths of the world�s communications as they zap down from satellites and zip through the underground and undersea cables of international, foreign, and domestic networks. The heavily fortified $2 billion center should be up and running in September 2013.

Flowing through its servers and routers and stored in near-bottomless databases will be all forms of communication, including the complete contents of private emails, cell phone calls, and Google searches, as well as all sorts of personal data trails�parking receipts, travel itineraries, bookstore purchases, and other digital �pocket litter.� It is, in some measure, the realization of the �total information awareness� program created during the first term of the Bush administration�an effort that was killed by Congress in 2003 after it caused an outcry over its potential for invading Americans� privacy. ... ... A short time later, Inglis arrived in Bluffdale at the site of the future data center, a flat, unpaved runway on a little-used part of Camp Williams, a National Guard training site. There, in a white tent set up for the occasion, Inglis joined Harvey Davis, the agency�s associate director for installations and logistics, and Utah senator Orrin Hatch, along with a few generals and politicians in a surreal ceremony.

Standing in an odd wooden sandbox and holding gold-painted shovels, they made awkward jabs at the sand and thus officially broke ground on what the local media had simply dubbed �the spy center.� Hoping for some details on what was about to be built, reporters turned to one of the invited guests, Lane Beattie of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce. Did he have any idea of the purpose behind the new facility in his backyard? �Absolutely not,� he said with a self-conscious half laugh. �Nor do I want them spying on me.� ... Within days, the tent and sandbox and gold shovels would be gone and Inglis and the generals would be replaced by some 10,000 construction workers. �We�ve been asked not to talk about the project,� Rob Moore, president of Big-D Construction, one of the three major contractors working on the project, told a local reporter.

The plans for the center show an extensive security system: an elaborate $10 million antiterrorism protection program, including a fence designed to stop a 15,000-pound vehicle traveling 50 miles per hour, closed-circuit cameras, a biometric identification system, a vehicle inspection facility, and a visitor-control center ... It needs that capacity because, according to a recent report by Cisco, global Internet traffic will quadruple from 2010 to 2015, reaching 966 exabytes per year. (A million exabytes equal a yottabyte.) In terms of scale, Eric Schmidt, Google�s former CEO, once estimated that the total of all human knowledge created from the dawn of man to 2003 totaled 5 exabytes. And the data flow shows no sign of slowing. In 2011 more than 2 billion of the world�s 6.9 billion people were connected to the Internet. By 2015, market research firm IDC estimates, there will be 2.7 billion users. Thus, the NSA�s need for a 1-million-square-foot data storehouse.

Should the agency ever fill the Utah center with a yottabyte of information, it would be equal to about 500 quintillion (500,000,000,000,000,000,000) pages of text. The data stored in Bluffdale will naturally go far beyond the world�s billions of public web pages. The NSA is more interested in the so-called invisible web, also known as the deep web or deepnet�data beyond the reach of the public. This includes password-protected data, US and foreign government communications, and noncommercial file-sharing between trusted peers. �The deep web contains government reports, databases, and other sources of information of high value to DOD and the intelligence community,� according to a 2010 Defense Science Board report. �Alternative tools are needed to find and index data in the deep web � Stealing the classified secrets of a potential adversary is where the [intelligence] community is most comfortable.� With its new Utah Data Center, the NSA will at last have the technical capability to store, and rummage through, all those stolen secrets.

The question, of course, is how the agency defines who is, and who is not, �a potential adversary.� ... Quote from: chris jones on December 02, 2012, 06:04:21 PM An old friend told me about these tunnels years ago, does history repeat, this is not the twilight zone, its true. Derinkuyu Underground CityFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search Derinkuyu Underground City is an ancient multi-level underground city of the Median Empire in the Derinkuyu district in Nevşehir Province, Turkey. With its five floors extending to a depth of approximately 60 m, it was large enough to shelter approximately 20,000 people together with their livestock and food stores. It is the largest excavated underground city in Turkey and is one of several underground complexes found across Cappadocia. It was opened to visitors in 1969 and to date, about half of the underground city is accessible to tourists. The underground city at Derinkuyu could be closed from the inside with large stone doors. The complex has a total of 13 floors.

Each floor could be closed off separately.8th�7th centuries B.C according to the Turkish Department of Culture,[3] the underground city at Derinkuyu may have been enlarged in the Byzantine era.Inside Underground Tunnel Cappadocia, Turkey 112308 - YouTube► 9:29► 9:29 14/12/2008 - V�deo enviado por froggy4378 Inside Underground Tunnel Cappadocia, Turkey. ... Watch Later Derinkuyu, Underground city, Ancient ... Some of these places are beautiful. this is Derinkuyu. Eight Underground Cities Crossrail: Where is it in the list of 'big digs'? By William Kremer BBC World Service The tunnelling for Crossrail, London's new east-west rail network, is now in its most intense phase - and the scale of the engineering challenge is as jaw-dropping as the cost is eye-watering. The tourists and shoppers in Red Lion Street in central London can have little idea that 30m under their feet something is going on, although people in buildings with deep foundations may feel a curious tingle.

Two tunnel boring machines (TBMs), named Phyllis and Ada, are worming their way through the earth. Each one is the length of 14 London buses and weighs 1,000 tonnes. Europe's largest current construction project is now halfway through, having absorbed over 25 million working hours and produced around eight miles of tunnels. Last year and this year the project supported the equivalent of 13,800 full-time jobs throughout the supply chain When the project is completed in late 2019, the route will start in Maidenhead in Berkshire, stretch out a tentacle to Heathrow, then pass through central London before going on to Shenfield in Essex and Abbey Wood, near Greenwich. It will bring one and a half million people within a 45-minute travelling distance of central London. The TBMs have tungsten carbide cutting tools on the face that cut away the ground, with the loose earth fed back down the machine on a conveyor belt. What happens to all that debris? Much of it - 4.5 million tonnes - will eventually form the new RSPB nature reserve of Wallasea Island.

Six of the most expensive tunnels Thames Tunnel 1825-1843 The Gotthard Tunnel 2004-2016 The Yantai-Dalian Tunnel (proposed) Blueprints exist for a 76.4-mile undersea tunnel linking the Chinese cities of Dalian and Yantai - over twice the length of the Channel Tunnel ... Subterranean London is riddled with Tube tunnels, secret passages, Roman ruins, high-voltage cables, long-forgotten aquifers and deep building foundations. The route squirms past these obstacles, passing just 1.5m over the Tube's Northern Line. ... Then there was the problem of bombs. "It's estimated that there's about 17,000 tonnes of bombs that were dropped on London in WWII and the rule of thumb is about 10% failed to explode," says Simon Cooke from consultancy 6Alpha. While some bombs were removed, others were missed or even abandoned because they were too dangerous to deactivate ... After the tunnelling concludes, some of the tunnel boring machines, which each cost �10m, will be lifted out in pieces. But where there is no nearby shaft to the surface that can't happen.

"Then it's not cost effective to dismantle the machine underground and it's quite risky for the workforce to do that," says Andy Alder. "So in those cases we would look to bury the TBM and leave it underground forever - we strip out all the valuable components, but the basic shell of the machine we'll leave underground." ... Thirlmere Aqueduct, England 1890-1925 At 95 miles, some consider this the longest tunnel in the world - a set of tunnels and pipes carry water from the Lake District to Manchester Hawks Nest Tunnel, West Virginia, US 1927-1932 This three-mile tunnel, constructed as part of a hydroelectric project, possibly holds the record for most lives claimed during its construction - after mining silica without masks many workers died of silicosis - a congressional hearing placed the toll at 476, but it may have been higher Seikan Tunnel, Japan 1964-1988 This tunnel, linking the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido, is currently the world's deepest and longest railway tunnel at 240m below sea level and 33.5 miles long

Question: What undersea rail tunnel, 33.5 miles long is the longest operational underground railway tunnel in the world ? It was completed in 1988 and connects the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido in Japan.
Answer: SEIKAN Tunnel