An escape tunnel on the 111 km under-construction Banihal-Katra railway line in Jammu and Kashmir was completed on Thursday. Twitter/@RailwayNorthern
The prestigious Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Line (USBRL) project on Thursday achieved yet another milestone. The Indian Railways completed an escape tunnel on the 111 km under-construction Banihal-Katra railway line in Jammu and Kashmir.
The 12.89 km tunnel is said to be the longest ‘escape tunnel’ in the country.
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India’s longest ‘escape tunnel’
The escape tunnel is a modified horseshoe shape tunnel connecting the Sumber Station yard on the southside and T-50 Tunnel after crossing bridge number 4 over Khoda Nallah on the north side, at Khoda village.
Railway officials revealed that the escape tunnel was built to facilitate rescue and restoration operations in case of an emergency situation. The government has said that the tunnel “passes through the Ramban formation of the Himalayas and besides this, various distributaries and drains of Chenab river like Khoda, Hingni, Kundan nallah cross all along the alignment, making drilling a highly challenging task.”
“The tunnel mining was very challenging and several surprises were met during tunnelling. Excessive deformations were recorded during tunnelling at several locations between Kundan and Seeran, but these challenges were successfully tackled professionally,” it added.
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A twin-tube tunnel
Sumber’s south end is roughly 1,400 metres elevated, while the north end is above 1,558 metres.
According to the officials, Tunnel T-49 is a twin-tube tunnel with a main tunnel (12.75 km) and escape tunnel (12.89 km) connected by 33 cross-passages.
They said that a number of difficulties were faced during construction, including shear zones, perched aquifers, highly joined rock masses, rock problems of excessive squeezing and heavy ingress of water.
The government stated, “During the construction activities of the tunnel, more than 75 per cent of workers from nearby villages were engaged in various construction activities, thereby ushering a positive change in the overall socio-economic landscape of the region.”
A government press release further informed that the tunnel was constructed by the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM), a modern technique of drill and blast processes.
The cost of construction of the 111-km Katra-Banihal section until September had been Rs 30, 673 crore.
About the USBRL project
The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link is a national project undertaken by the Indian Railways for construction of broad-gauge railway line through the Himalayas, with the aim of connecting the Kashmir region with rest of the country.
The Banihal-Katra section is being constructed as part of the USBRL project. Out of the total 272 kilometres of the project, 161 km has already been commissioned and operationalised.
According to PTI, earlier in August, the world’s highest rail bridge over the Chenab river in Reasi’s Kouri area had achieved a milestone when the overarch deck of the bridge was completed with a golden joint.
With inputs from agencies
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