Abstract: Inspection and monitoring are important means of controlling the construction quality of railway tunnels and ensuring its safe operation. With the implementation of the railway network planning and the increasement of numbers of railway tunnels in operation, China has entered a peak period of railway tunnel maintenance and repair.Nevertheless, contrary to the vigorous development of railway tunnelling, some problems in terms of tunnel inspection and monitoring are existed in China, such as the incomplete regulation and regime, the lack of technical standards, the low inspection efficiency, and the monotone technical means, etc. Based on the comprehensive investigation of the tunnel inspection regulations and regimes of foreign developed countries and other domestic industries,this paper proposes a set of whole-life-cycle inspection and monitoring system of railway tunnels based on the digital tunnel as the management target, with consideration to the actual site conditions and operation and maintenance characteristics of railway tunnels. The system integrates tunnel structure safety inspection, real-time condition moni? toring, information acquisition and communication, and dynamic warning, which would provide technical support for railway tunnel operation and maintenance and ensure the quality and safety of railway tunnels.