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| India-Pakistan |
| 1-km milestone for Kashmir rail tunnel |
| 2007-01-28 |
| The first kilometre of the 11-km Banihal rail tunnel that will link Kashmir to rest of India has just been completed, promising to conquer the magnificent Pir Panjal Range, which has caused the Valley to miss a railway link for 154 years. The tunnel from Laole (Banihal) to Qazigund on the Udhampur-Srinagar line is going be Indian Railways’ largest, and the second largest in Asia after the recently completed, 20-km Wushaoling tunnel in Gansu, northwest China. The longest operational rail tunnel in India is the 6.5-km Karbude on the Konkan railways. For nearly three years now, a team of about 500 has been working under the mountains round the clock and aims to finish the tunnel by December 2009. Early 2010 should see 40 trains ply on the tracks to and from the Valley. At the work site near Qazigund, a 56-metre shaft leads to a 36-metre passage opening into the 1 km of the tunnel already complete from the Srinagar end. Work is being simultaneously undertaken from the the South Portal-Jammu end, where another kilometre will be completed soon. Down the shaft cut through the mighty rocks, dazzling lights and roaring machines give the first glimpse of the effort that has gone into making the 9.5-meter horse-shoe hole. Designed by an Austrian team, which supervises the work every week, the tunnel is being dug according to the “New Austrian tunnelling technique”, first used in India for the Delhi Metro. The engineering effort is phenomenal even in this age as the rocks offer maximum resistance to even the world’s most high-tech machines. The earth at the site is made of limestone, clay and quartizite. “Quartizite is the most difficult to cut through,’’ said P Purkayastha, DGM, civil, for Ircon, the firm also constructing the Qazigund-Baramulla track in the Valley. Though the Rs 4.5 crore excavator and breaker imported from South Korea has been breaking rocks for three years now, the work is moving at 2.5-to-3 meters a day. But for the people working there, it is a battle won every day. “We have bought a new machine worth Rs 18 crore which will require no explosives,’’ said Harpal Singh, project manager, Hindustan Construction Co, contractors for Ircon. The engineers make holes to drain the water seeping in after excavation, but for the workers, it is like working in a shower for hours. Amid all this, an average of 2.5 tonnes of rocks and earth — muck, in local jargon — come out of the hole daily. “The rocks piled up will be as high as the pyramids in Egypt,” said Purkayastha. Though the beautiful terrain outside the construction site is captivating for the workers too, for most of them the tunnel is the hardest task they have ever undertaken. A R More, a construction engineer and veteran of many railway tunnels, including Delhi Metro’s, agrees: “This tunnel will be the hardest job ever in the history of Railways, and the most challenging as well.” |
| Posted by:john |
| #7 What's the line on how soon one of the portals is shut by an explosive once it opens? And is there anybody willing to bet there won't be simultaneous attacks on both ends, sealing in any number of trains / people? |
| Posted by: USN, ret. 2007-01-28 21:02 |
| #6 Wondered that, Ship when I saw your first post. Of course, who am i to pick at other's nits? |
| Posted by: BA 2007-01-28 11:39 |
| #5 Damn, Austrian, never mind. Lord Ima gotta get these things lazered. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-01-28 09:57 |
| #4 2010 should see 40 trains ply on the tracks to and from the Valley. Double track, I sincerely hope. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-01-28 08:12 |
| #3 They will need to dig 4 times faster to complete the job in 2009 With the paleo mole-men, it would be done very quickly, I've heard they were very good at burrowing, being some kind of lemmings variants. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-01-28 07:48 |
| #2 2 km in three years. 9 km to go. They will need to dig 4 times faster to complete the job in 2009. That new TBM better be good. |
| Posted by: john 2007-01-28 07:29 |
| #1 New Austrian tunnelling technique Makes sense, being diggers and all. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-01-28 07:12 |