Hakusan Tunnel

The Hakusan Tunnel is on the Hokuriku Shinkansen line, which connects Tokyo to the Sea of Japan coast through a series of long mountain tunnels. The tunnel opened in 2024 as part of the extension from Kanazawa to Tsuruga in Fukui Prefecture. At about 23.6 km, it is one of the longest tunnels on the entire Hokuriku Shinkansen route.

The Hakusan Tunnel is approximately 23.6 kilometres long, making it one of the longest railway tunnels in Japan. It bores through the mountains between Fukui and Ishikawa prefectures along the Hokuriku Shinkansen route. The tunnel's length reflects the mountainous terrain of the Hokuriku region that the shinkansen must traverse.

The extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen from Kanazawa to Tsuruga, which includes the Hakusan Tunnel, opened in March 2024. This extension shortened travel times between Tokyo and the Hokuriku region. The project had been under construction for over a decade, with the tunnel itself being one of the most challenging segments.

At approximately 23.6 km, the Hakusan Tunnel ranks among Japan's longest railway tunnels, though it is shorter than record-holders like the Seikan Tunnel (over 53 km) and the Iwate-Ichinohe Tunnel on the Tohoku Shinkansen. It is comparable in scale to several other large-diameter shield tunnels built for Japan's shinkansen network. Its construction required advanced tunneling techniques to deal with the complex geology of central Honshū.