1Vice President
2Cluster Head,
A number of challenging tunnelling projects are under construction across the length and breadth of the country to connecting significant but remote places to rest of the country. With a serious intent to ease the day -to-day life of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and to connect them through railway network to the world outside the valley, it has become necessary to create a passage through the mountains therein. The Indian Railways decided to connect the people of this beatific valley all through the weathers. Hence the most economic rail linking project officially known as Udhampur Srinagar Baramulla Rail Link Project (USBRL). The whole track passes through an insurmountably adverse Himalayan Geology , keeping in view the fact that 70% of the track is covered by series of tunnels between Udhampur and Qazigund. The length of tunnels between Udhampur to Qazigund ranges between few hundred meters to 12.78 kms. The first longest length of the Tunnel is 11.20km . The Pir Panjal Tunnel (T-80) has already been commissioned in 2013 and is fully operational on date. Another longest railway tunnel in the series of this project is T-49, having a length of 12.78km surpassing the length of the previously built longest tunnel, i.e., T-80 Tunnel. Considering the construction difficulties, approach and time bound project, Tunnel T-49 has been split into two projects- T-49 A measuring 5100m and T-49B covering a distance of 7700m. Hereunder we will discuss the T-49A project.
The project - which is in the advance stage of construction, has been christianed as Tunnel Package T-49A, forms an important part of Prestigious Udhampur Srinagar Baramulla New BG Rail Line Project in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Twin tunnels, i.e., “the Main” and the “Escape tunnels” of 5.1 Km length each, horse shoe shaped, with 7.12m and 4.5m finished dia respectively, are to be bored through NATM through a fragile geology where surprises confront our engineers day in and day out.
The authors wants to highlight the details of the planning process, execution challenges, innovations done, introduction of additional adits, simultaneous working of various activities and extremely poor road conditions faced where supply- chain- management was the key to success. Being the project of national importance this stretch was tunnelled within the time schedule. This successful experience will be helpful for all the field engineers who are working day and night in different part of the country and abroad.
