TAURUS RAILWAY TUNNEL.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 November 1918, Page 2

TAURUS RAILWAY TUNNEL.

TURKEY'S VITAL EASTERN ROAD'.

Liko those arranged with Bulgaria, the conditions of the armistice with Turkey provide for the allied control of all Turkish railways. A special clause provides for the allied occupation. of the Taurus tunnel system. The importance of this brief clause will be. evident when it is realised that : fhe possession of this system gives the ; Allies control of a passageway which' is almost as vital to the land eomnmhiea-. tiohs '• between Europe And the-East, as the Suez Canal is to. the sea' rikifces/ It; is-by way of'these tunnels railway from Constantinople- to .Bagdad:, and" Palestine passes -over, the ...great| Taurus mountains, .nqrtti_-west>yarcl of, Aieppq and , Alexandrtetta. , >?o)»e . 6i* theso.tijnnels. have only been completed" since -the outbreak of war, the ones ; bedng. situated in the heart''af'.tiiej Taurus ra-nge, between Ka.rapii'na'i' ari'di Dorak. __ I)gscribirig_this sedtfdft'lbf''tfiej Ukc before'tlW-'Rdyali Geographical' ;Soc*ty 'itf'-¥cbHt4,*.y:- : <if last' year*/'-Slf '-" H. "'Charles'"Wood 5 ' sti&&:\ litfe vi r as- fM>fc&»K&raW piinar'-ift December,''WLV'AlMft>S yeafo, ■«aifi fcTbaif plfetod to iftbUtlßsrn slopea-.-of the,riiaaige,, $& wasj ■therefore; tfM ;snwt ? about tftirtyl'iattes"' ;ta;een ■ ih,ese. two places,, ■ wMdh r •thromgij'■*'^fnc.\^9^- : T®fe4mber l until .i"h,»t;'.sectlan cai&i pleted,'lisf. November,.;'. But '-.the zetfii* struetioiT of" this p'iec'e. pf-;'liri'e. n 'cMi's §-t 'tuted by-far-the most 4ijTi'cii|t, ; ing task of.the whole. r'ajlWaV. Iditioa to ! total-.length of .about,;', eleven jnilesj there .was an immense anlounir of eaffh-l work, cutting, and bridgerbuiMuig to be done. ... I will say only' that some of the bridges over mountain streams have piers Soft to 100 ft high, and that in one place alone there is a cutting for a distance of some tvvo miles. The new road itself, which' was constructed entirely for railway purposes, is a very fine piece of work, for.it 1 required an immense amount of undercutting in the cliffs, which rise -sheerabove and fall vertically below it in vsuch a way that wooden balustrades , had to be provided to ensure against accident."