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Morocco and Spain have taken a major step toward building a submarine tunnel under the Strait of Gibraltar, press reports in the two countries have said.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Spain’s National Geographic Institute and Morocco’s National Centre for Scientific and Technical Research (CNRST) to conduct joint research on the seismicity and geodynamics of the strait, the reports said at the week end.
Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente and his Moroccan counterpart, Karim Zidane, had met in December last year to formalise the agreement.
The project has been under study for nearly half a century, since the two countries first committed to exploring a fixed link between Europe and Africa.
The Spanish government in March approved a new transfer of €1.73 million ($2 million) to finance technical studies for the infrastructure.
The planned tunnel would stretch approximately 65 kilometres in total. Around 40km would run under Spanish territory. The northern entrance would be located near Vejer de la Frontera.
The infrastructure would consist of two independent single-track railway tubes, each with a circular cross-section of 7.90 metres in interior diameter. A central service gallery of 6 metres in diameter would run between them for emergencies and maintenance.
Cross-passages of 6 metres in diameter would connect the tubes every 340 meters. A Secure Parking Zone would be built at the tunnel’s lowest point, equipped with stop zones, safety areas, intervention zones, and a smoke extraction gallery.
SECEGSA commissioned a feasibility study from Herrenknecht Ibérica, the Spanish subsidiary of the German tunneling machinery manufacturer. The study focused on whether it is technically possible to bore through the Umbral de Camarinal, an underwater ridge separating the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean.
(Writing by N Saeed; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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