Excavation of Tunnel No. 03 on Algeria’s Eastern Mining Railway has been completed following the successful breakthrough connecting the two excavation faces on the 121km Bouchegouf–Drea section.
The National Agency for Studies and Monitoring of Railway Investments (ANESRIF) confirmed in a recent social post, that the 300-metre tunnel had reached breakthrough, marking further progress on the engineering structures required along the route. The Bouchegouf–Drea section includes nine tunnels with a combined length exceeding seven kilometres.
The section forms part of the 422km Eastern Mining Railway linking Annaba with the Djebel Onk and Bled El Hadba mining areas in south-eastern Algeria. The railway is undergoing modernisation, track doubling and alignment improvements to increase its capacity to transport mineral resources between mining and processing areas and the Port of Annaba.
The latest tunnel breakthrough follows an inspection of the railway’s construction sites by the Director General of ANESRIF, accompanied by agency officials, the CEO of COSIDER Public Works and representatives of Chinese and Algerian construction companies.
The inspection covered the 121km Bouchegouf–Drea section and the 54km Annaba–Bouchegouf section. During the visit, the Director General instructed contractors to intensify construction activities and complete the remaining works, with particular emphasis on delivering the Annaba–Bouchegouf section within the established deadlines.
