Rating:
66008
{0}%
No votes cast
BNSF - Flathead Tunnel
Photo
Eastbound Empire Builder Enters Flathead Tunnel
This is the south end (west end on the railroad) of BNSF Railway's Flathead Tunnel. It is the third-longest railroad tunnel in North America, and second longest in the United States, measuring 7 miles in length.
Stryker, MT
Photo by Loco Steve
License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
View this photo on Flickr
BH Photo #316101
Description
Seven-mile tunnel built by Morrison-Knudsen for the Great Northern Railroad as part of a line relocation around the Libby Dam, which flooded the original alignment along the Kootenai River. Construction began in 1968 and was completed in 1970 when the Burlington Northern took over GN operations. Now part of BNSF's Northern Transcon and is used by Amtrak's Empire Builder twice a day.
Facts
- Overview
- Tunnel on BNSF Kootenai River Subdivision
- Location
- Lincoln County, Montana
- Status
- Open to traffic
- History
- Built 1970
- Builder
- - Morrison-Knudsen Co. of Boise, Idaho
- Railroads
- - Amtrak (AMTK)
- BNSF Railway (BNSF)
- Burlington Northern Railroad (BN)
- Great Northern Railway (GN)
- Design
- Tunnel
- Dimensions
-
Total length: 37,012.8 ft. (7.0 mi.)
- Also called
- BN - Flathead Tunnel
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +48.48241, -114.94895 (decimal degrees)
48°28'57" N, 114°56'56" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
- Approximate UTM coordinates
- 11/651563/5371951 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Bowen Lake
- Inventory number
- BH 66008 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- February 14, 2015: Added by Ian Martin