♦ China has officially opened the world’s longest expressway tunnel in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on 26 December 2025.

♦ The Tianshan Shengli Tunnel, stretching 22.13 kilometres, is now open to traffic, after five years of construction.

♦ This expressway tunnel dramatically reduces travel time through the formidable Tianshan mountain range. 

♦ This is a great step towards reinforcing Xinjiang’s strategic importance in domestic and international trade corridors.

♦ The tunnel is the core of the Urumqi–Yuli Expressway, a project designed to bridge the long-standing geographic divide between northern and southern Xinjiang. 

♦ As the tunnel is now operational, the seven-hour long trip across the mountains is now completed in approximately three and a half hours.

♦ The journey through the mountains has been reduced to just 20 minutes (approximately).