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Nation’s Longest Escape Tunnel Thrown Open by the Indian Railways in Kashmir
The Indian Railways has finished a 12.8-kilometer tunnel, the country's longest escape tunnel on the 111 km-long Banihal-Katra railway line in Jammu and Kashmir, according to a government release. The tunnel is a component of the renowned Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Line (USBRL) project. The escape tunnel was built to make rescue efforts easier in case of an emergency. The drilling and construction of the tunnel was a challenging task as it passed through the nullahs of Khoda, Hingni, and Kundan, as well as other drainages and reservoirs in the Chenab River. The Tunnel T-49 is a twin tube tunnel with a 12.75 km main tunnel and a 12.895 km escape tunnel connected by 33 cross-passages. This is the fourth tunnel on the Banihal–Katra route. The 12.75 km long T-49 tunnel was finished in January of this year. It was built using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM), a cutting-edge method involving drill and blast operations. The tunnel, which has a horseshoe-shaped structure, connects the Sumber station yard to tunnel T-50. The officials claim that throughout the tunnel's construction, a number of challenges were encountered, including a perched aquifer, a shear zone, and a mass of highly jointed rock. 161 of the project's entire 272 kilometers have already been put into operation.
