Spiral Tunnels

E801849

civil engineering structure railway tunnel system

Spiral Tunnels are a pair of ingeniously engineered railway tunnels in British Columbia’s Kicking Horse Pass that use spiral loops to reduce steep grades and safely carry trains through the Rocky Mountains.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Spiral Tunnels canonical	2
Lower Spiral Tunnel	1
Spiral Tunnels (nearby on CPR mainline)	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T9490895 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Spiral Tunnels
Context triple: [Canadian Pacific Railway, notableStructure, Spiral Tunnels]

A. Sun Tunnels
Sun Tunnels is a monumental Land Art installation by Nancy Holt in Utah’s Great Basin Desert, consisting of four massive concrete tubes aligned with the solstices and drilled with star patterns.
B. Spiralen tunnel and viewpoint
Spiralen tunnel and viewpoint is a helical road tunnel and popular scenic overlook in Drammen, Norway, offering panoramic views of the city and surrounding landscape.
C. the Tunnels
The Tunnels are an underground, hidden community beneath New York City where outcasts live in secrecy and form a close-knit, almost mythic society in the TV series "Beauty and the Beast."
D. Tar Tunnel
Tar Tunnel is a historic 18th-century industrial tunnel in Ironbridge Gorge, England, known for its natural bitumen seepage and role in the early Industrial Revolution.
E. Box Tunnel
Box Tunnel is a historic railway tunnel in Wiltshire, England, engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel as part of the Great Western Railway and renowned for its ambitious 19th-century design and construction.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Spiral Tunnels
Target entity description: Spiral Tunnels are a pair of ingeniously engineered railway tunnels in British Columbia’s Kicking Horse Pass that use spiral loops to reduce steep grades and safely carry trains through the Rocky Mountains.

A. Sun Tunnels
Sun Tunnels is a monumental Land Art installation by Nancy Holt in Utah’s Great Basin Desert, consisting of four massive concrete tubes aligned with the solstices and drilled with star patterns.
B. Spiralen tunnel and viewpoint
Spiralen tunnel and viewpoint is a helical road tunnel and popular scenic overlook in Drammen, Norway, offering panoramic views of the city and surrounding landscape.
C. the Tunnels
The Tunnels are an underground, hidden community beneath New York City where outcasts live in secrecy and form a close-knit, almost mythic society in the TV series "Beauty and the Beast."
D. Tar Tunnel
Tar Tunnel is a historic 18th-century industrial tunnel in Ironbridge Gorge, England, known for its natural bitumen seepage and role in the early Industrial Revolution.
E. Box Tunnel
Box Tunnel is a historic railway tunnel in Wiltshire, England, engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel as part of the Great Western Railway and renowned for its ambitious 19th-century design and construction.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (37)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	civil engineering structure ⓘ railway tunnel system ⓘ
constructedBy	Canadian Pacific Railway ⓘ
country	Canada ⓘ
crosses	Continental Divide region (nearby) ⓘ
hasPart	Lower Spiral Tunnel ⓘ linked to: Spiral Tunnels Upper Spiral Tunnel ⓘ
hasViewpoint	Spiral Tunnels viewpoint on Trans-Canada Highway ⓘ linked to: Trans-Canada Highway in Yoho National Park
heritageStatus	historic railway engineering site ⓘ
locatedIn	British Columbia ⓘ Canadian Rockies ⓘ linked to: Rocky Mountains Kicking Horse Pass ⓘ
locatedInPass	Kicking Horse Pass ⓘ
locatedInProvince	British Columbia ⓘ
locatedNear	Field, British Columbia ⓘ Yoho National Park ⓘ
locatedOnLine	Canadian Pacific Railway main line ⓘ linked to: Canadian Pacific Railway mainline
material	rock ⓘ
maximumGradeAfterConstruction	approximately 2.2 percent ⓘ
notableFor	iconic mountain railway engineering in Canada ⓘ reducing steep grades with spiral loops ⓘ
numberOfTunnels	2 ⓘ
opened	1909 ⓘ
operatedBy	Canadian Pacific Railway ⓘ
owner	Canadian Pacific Railway ⓘ
previousMaximumGrade	approximately 4.5 percent ⓘ
purpose	allow heavier trains through the Rocky Mountains ⓘ increase train safety ⓘ reduce railway grade through Kicking Horse Pass ⓘ
region	Rocky Mountains ⓘ
replaced	Kicking Horse Pass "Big Hill" route ⓘ linked to: Kicking Horse Pass
status	in use ⓘ
trackGauge	standard gauge ⓘ
usedFor	freight trains ⓘ passenger trains ⓘ
usesDesign	spiral loop tunnel ⓘ
visibleFrom	Trans-Canada Highway ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Canadian Pacific Railway → notableStructure → Spiral Tunnels ⓘ

Kicking Horse Pass → hasRailFeature → Spiral Tunnels (nearby on CPR mainline) ⓘ

linked to: Spiral Tunnels

Field, British Columbia → hasAttractionNearby → Spiral Tunnels ⓘ

Spiral Tunnels → hasPart → Lower Spiral Tunnel ⓘ