SRINAGAR, Oct 14:India's longest railway tunnel was opened by northern railway at Banihal today. The tunnel pierces through the Pir Panjal range.
According to railway authorities, the tunnel is part of the Udhampur - Srinagar - Baramulla rail link project. At 10.96km long, the Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel is India's longest and Asia's 2nd longest tunnel. It will reduce the travel distance between Qazigund and Banihal to only 11 km and providing a hassle-free travel up to Baramulla.
The 10.96 kms tunnel, which is aligned straight from north to south, is 100 percent water-proof and is also equipped with fire fighting system throughout its entire length.
Briefing media persons, project manager Hindustan construction corporation S Yala said, the construction of the tunnel started in November 2005 and was complete in 2011. The total cost of the tunnel was Rs.391 crores.
According to him, the train would take 6.6 minutes to travel this distance from Banihal in south side to Qazigund in north side of the mountain and thus would take passenger from Jammu region in to Kashmir region just six minutes. The fact about the tunnel excavation is that the total excavated quantity was equal to one mountain, said Vikram Singh Tanwar, PRO HCC.
He said, 1500 workers, employed to excavate the tunnel piercing the Pir Panjal mountain would meet one another when they dig out last spade of the muck tomorrow.
Interestingly, this railway tunnel is below Jawahar tunnel- meant for vehicular traffic only- which usually gets blocked during winters owing to heavy snowfall in the region.
The railway line from Quazigund to Baramulla (119 km) was already completed by IRCON and it is operational to public since October 2009. In order to accelerate the balance work, the total length between Dharam to Quazigund section was divided into 6 Zones and the contract for the Zone - IV & V was awarded to HCC, project manager Yala said.
He added that due to the changing geological strata of the young Himalayan rock, New Australian Tunneling Methodology (NATM) was adopted for the construction. During survey, eight different types of geological strata were found in the entire length of the tunnel.
According to railway authorities, the tunnel is part of the Udhampur - Srinagar - Baramulla rail link project. At 10.96km long, the Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel is India's longest and Asia's 2nd longest tunnel. It will reduce the travel distance between Qazigund and Banihal to only 11 km and providing a hassle-free travel up to Baramulla.
The 10.96 kms tunnel, which is aligned straight from north to south, is 100 percent water-proof and is also equipped with fire fighting system throughout its entire length.
Briefing media persons, project manager Hindustan construction corporation S Yala said, the construction of the tunnel started in November 2005 and was complete in 2011. The total cost of the tunnel was Rs.391 crores.
According to him, the train would take 6.6 minutes to travel this distance from Banihal in south side to Qazigund in north side of the mountain and thus would take passenger from Jammu region in to Kashmir region just six minutes. The fact about the tunnel excavation is that the total excavated quantity was equal to one mountain, said Vikram Singh Tanwar, PRO HCC.
He said, 1500 workers, employed to excavate the tunnel piercing the Pir Panjal mountain would meet one another when they dig out last spade of the muck tomorrow.
Interestingly, this railway tunnel is below Jawahar tunnel- meant for vehicular traffic only- which usually gets blocked during winters owing to heavy snowfall in the region.
The railway line from Quazigund to Baramulla (119 km) was already completed by IRCON and it is operational to public since October 2009. In order to accelerate the balance work, the total length between Dharam to Quazigund section was divided into 6 Zones and the contract for the Zone - IV & V was awarded to HCC, project manager Yala said.
He added that due to the changing geological strata of the young Himalayan rock, New Australian Tunneling Methodology (NATM) was adopted for the construction. During survey, eight different types of geological strata were found in the entire length of the tunnel.
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