In another milestone achievement by the Railways, it has executed a breakthrough of the 10.18 km-long tunnel in the Kashmir rail-link project.

It is the country’s fourth longest tunnel of Indian Railways situated between Sangaldan and Sumber stations on the ongoing Katra-Banihal Section of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project that is being executed as a fast-track project to link Kashmir with rest of the country through rail.

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Ashutosh Gangal, General Manager of Northern Railway, informed that Northern Railway has achieved a major milestone in the USBRL project by executing the breakthrough of the fourth longest tunnel of Indian railways.

It is a modified horseshoe-shaped tunnel connecting the Sumber Station yard on the North side and Bridge No:1 over Chinji Nallah on the South side, at Dharam village.

The Tunnel T-48 is a twin tube tunnel comprising the Main tunnel (10.186 Kms.) and Escape Tunnel (9.788 Kms.) connected with 24 cross-passages.

The tunnel is constructed as per International standards, in which provision of an Escape Tunnel has been made to facilitate rescue and restoration works in emergency cases.

The Tunnel passes through the Ramban formation of the Young Himalayas and Muree thrust lies on the south end of T-48, where Chinji Nallah crosses between T-47 P-2 & T-48 P-1.

Construction of the rail link is a challenging task as it has sprung several geological surprises.   The tunnel has been constructed by the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM), which is a modern technique of drill and blast processes. The construction work has been entrusted to M/s IRCON International Ltd. by Northern Railway.

Although the boring work of the tunnel, started from both directions up to the hand-shaking point, the precision of both ends meeting at one point flawlessly is a joint effort of Northern Railways, M/S IRCON & M/S GECPL (Executing Agency).

Out of the total 272 km length of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link, 161 km in the valley has already been commissioned. Work of balance 111 Kms, the intervening stretch between Katra -Banihal is under progress at a rapid pace.

Katra –Banihal Section is traversing through the hilly terrain of the lower Himalayas in which weak Geology, remoteness, and inaccessibility of the area, weather conditions, landslides, and shooting stones on access roads are major challenges. It has several major bridges and very long tunnels which are under construction at different stages.