Northern railways completes final tunnel on Baramulla-Jammu track

Northern Railways has reached a significant milestone on the most challenging section with the breakthrough of a 3.2-km-long single-tube tunnel located at Gunni-Sherwad in the Katra-Reasi section of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project, top officials said on Wednesday.

A top Northern Railway official said that under the USBRL project, a key milestone had been achieved with the breakthrough of the 3209-meter-long Tunnel-1 constructed by Konkan Railway Corporation Limited for Northern Railway between Katra-Reasi stations.

With this breakthrough of Tunnel-1, Railways completed all the tunnels on the 111-kilometer-long Katra-Banihal railway line, the official said that work was held up on this crucial tunnel for over three years since 2017.

“The lining work and stoppages of water seepages in Tunnel-1 were the most challenging tasks. The varied Himalayan geology and deep riverine gorges in the section posed the toughest challenge for completing the tunnel work,” the official added. Railway Board Member (Infrastructure) Roop Narayan Sunkar said.

“We had to work on 111 kilometres, with 97 kilometres dedicated to tunnelling. The work on the Chenab Bridge, the world’s highest railway bridge, and the Ajni Bridge, the first cable-stayed rail bridge in the Katra-Banihal section, has been completed.”

“The work on Tunnel-1 was the most challenging due to its topography. Finally, a breakthrough has been achieved,” he said. (KNO)