Although the railway tunneling in China has greatly developed during half a century, yet it lags a certain distance behind the modern tunneling technology of the world, the tendency of which is to build longer and longer tunnels and tunnels under water. At present the amount of railway tunnels in China ranks in the world's forefront, yet there are only 4 tunnels built longer than 10km,namely:Dayaoshan, Changliangshan double track tunnels and Qinling line I,II single track tunnels (the heading of line II tunnel having been broken through).In China there is not a tunnel longer than 20km and also not a subaqueous railway tunnel up to now. Therefore the design theory and construction technique for extra long and super long tunnels are to be developed, studied and promoted. At present a great number of tunnels shorter than 500m are excavated in such a way far from mechanized. Problems such as tunnel environmental engineering, anti-hazard techniques and countermeasures against various geological hazards are to be investigated. The organization management ability needs to be improved urgently to suit for the requirements of the deve pment of railway tunneling with high quality and high efficiency.

　China railway tunneling has gone through an eventful course of more than a century, and is now facing the larger challenge of the 21 st century. The government has determined to strength-en the construction of the infrastructure of railways, to enable the development of national economy and especially for the western part. To build railways in Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou provinces and in Xizang Autonomous Region, along the rivers and in south coastal regions where there are mountainous hindrances, long tunnels and group of tunnels are unavoidable. Railway tunneling has a long way to go. The construction of the 12268m long east Qinling tunnel (the third long double track tunnel in our country after completion) on Xian-Nanjing railway started in March 2000.Subaqueous tunnel under Yangtze River at Nanjing on the Beijing-Shanghai express rail-way, subaqueous tunnel under Yellow River, undersea tunnels crossing Jiaozhou Bay, Bohai Bay, Hangzhou Bay and Qongzhou Strait are under investigation. China railway tunneling will definitely develop toward extra length and water regions. In the “10 th Five Year Plan for the Development of Railway Technology and the Long Term Project Outline of 2015”, the Ministry of Rail-ways emphasized the key tasks for the development of railway technology within 5-15 years as follows: to develop high and new techniques, realizing a leap over in technology; to bring forth new ideas in technology, enabling the upgrade of production techniques; to strengthen fundamental techniques, providing technical guarantee. The development of railway tunneling technology should also be oriented to this objective. It is necessary to strengthen the development and study of high and new techniques, to strengthen the study for the application of new techniques and equipment of geological exploration, to develop tunneling geology, to strengthen geological surveying and advance geological prediction in construction, to improve and perfect mechanized construction with necessary accessories, to strengthen the countermeasures against tunnel hazards and the study on environmental protection, to promote the ability of organization and management in tunnel construction, thereupon to develop the railway technology into a new stage.