14.7.09

Kashmir rail link snippets


The much-delayed rail link connecting Kashmir with the rest of the country may finally be on track with the railways nearing completion of the longest and most challenging transport tunnel in the country—Pir Panjal tunnel—that would connect Qazigund in the Valley with Banihal in Jammu. Thanks to the new Austrian tunnelling method, the tunnel commissioned to be completed in seven years, would be ready two years ahead of schedule in December 2010. The tunnel would remove a major bottleneck on the track and cross the most treacherous Pir Panjal range of the Himalayas, with an average elevation of 13,500 feet. The tunnel lies between Salal and Qazigund, where virtually no habitation, road or tracking path existed even while its survey work was initiated. Railway Board member Rakesh Chopra said that of the 158 bridges and 20 tunnels connecting the Valley with the rest of the country, the 11-km Pir Panjal tunnel, with the highest overburden of 1,100 metres, was the most challenging aspect of the project. “The tunnel would come up 440 metres below the existing Jawahar road tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, the only road link connecting Kashmir with the outside world,’’ he said. The tunnel’s completion would be a major boost to the project after the setback it faced due the controversy last year and delay surrounding the four-year-old project of building the world’s highest bridge on the Chenab (359 metres), a crucial part of the railway line. “The Austrian method is suitable for geological variations and designed to develop maximum self-supporting system,’’ said Chopra. He said unlike the conventional method of mining on either ends, tunnelling work is being done from more than two sides. To facilitate simultaneous work at more than two faces, a shaft towards the north end was made and the machinery lowered to start tunnelling from an additional face. He said work on a 7.5-km stretch had been completed and the remaining 3.5 km would be over by late next year. The use of “road header along with the deepest drill holes for geo-technical investigations’’ are among several firsts used in the project, coming at the cost of Rs 647 crore. State-of-the-art technology is also being adopted to ensure ventilation, fire-fighting and safety monitoring. The rail line connecting Kashmir is the most challenging railway project in the country today. The track running through the Himalayas and spanning 290-km crosses major earthquake zones.

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