The tunnel was built through very difficult rock with four major faults and a great deal of underground water, some at 35 standard atmospheres (3.5 MPa) pressure.

In September 1979 workers broke into a fault connected to a 12,000 cubic metres (3,200,000 US gal) underground lake.

When it became clear that the tunnel would not be completed in time for the planned official opening of the BAM in 1984, a 28 kilometres (17 mi) bypass was built during the years 1982–83.

The main tunnel was put into operation on 5 December 2003[3] (signed off on 30 November),[4][5] with yet another announcement of the completion of the BAM project.

The next day (1 December), the Security Service of Ukraine claimed to have caused a train with fuel cars to explode while crossing the Devil's Bridge on the 1989 bypass.

[10] The cost of doubling the tunnel to increase the capacity from 16 to 34 train pairs per day and from 16 to 100 million t (18 to 110 million short tons) per year, with intervals between trains of not more than 10 minutes, was budgeted at 260.79 billion rubles (US$4.16 billion), according to a 2018 feasibility study by the Institute for Economy and Transport Development.

[12] A study published in the International Scientific Siberian Transport Forum TransSiberia - 2021, explains the need for a second tunnel.