Online published on 7 February, 2022.
The tunnelling industry in India has shown significant growth in the recent past due to significant investments in hydropower, Railways, Roads and Highways. Due to such high potential for investment these projects are of much higher value than in the past and includes major projects across various sectors like:
1. Railways:
Rishikesh-Karnaprayag Rail Line (∼105 km Tunnelling)
Bilaspur-Manali-Leh Rail Line (∼240 km Tunnelling)
USBRL Project (∼118 km Tunnelling)
2. Roads:
Zojila (∼14 km Tunnelling)
Z-Morh (∼6.5 km Tunnelling)
Rohtang Tunnels (∼9 km Tunnelling)
3. Hydroelectric projects:
Parbati-II (800 MW), Himachal Pradesh, India
Teesta VI (500 MW), Sikkim, India
Subansiri Lower (2000 MW), Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, India
Ratle Hydro-Electric Project (850 MW), J&K, India
Pakal Dul HEP (1000 MW), Kishtwar, J&K, India.
The constructions of these tunnels are still carried out mainly by conventional method of drilling and blasting, which has paved way for significant improvement in blasting techniques. This paper is mainly focused on discussing the advantages of advance blasting techniques which are available to cater for various challenges of the industry.
