The existing route of the regional railway line no. 218 and the tunnel connecting the cities of Majdanpek, Bor and Zaječar are located in the zone of ground collapse and settlement due to intensive mining. The Serbia ZiJin Copper d.o.o. Bor Company has analysed a possibility to apply some highly capacitive underground working methods with deposit caving in the Bor Pit. For this reason, the railway line must be relocated.
The length of the single-track non-electrified railway line section for design speed of 80 km/h, which is planned for relocation would be 4.62 km approximately. Among key structures on the route, special attention should be given to two tunnels, 540 m and 3,588 m long, and the bridge over a watercourse, 50 m long. For the 3,588 m long tunnel, a parallel evacuation tunnel is planned in the length of about 2,500 m with side connections at every 500 m, and vertical evacuation exit at about 100 m in front of the end of the planned relocation length of the railway line section. Plateaus for evacuation of passengers, about 35 m × 20 m in size, will be provided at the entrance and exit of this tunnel. The new route of the railway line with the tunnel will be connected to the existing tunnel outside the downtown area, so that bulk excavation works in the urban zone will be avoided.
