Indian Railways USBRL Project Update: Out of 272 Kilometres length of Udhampur Srinagar Baramulla Rail Link, 161 Kilometres has been already commissioned and operationalized. According to Northern Railways, the work of the intervening stretch of 111 Kilometres between Katra-Banihal is progressing at a fast pace. The Katra-Banihal section of the Indian Railways network is traversing through hilly terrain of lower Himalaya’s, in which one of the major challenges is Geology. The section has several major bridges and very long tunnels which are currently under construction at different stages. A major milestone has been achieved on 15 February 2022 by executing break-through of Tunnel T-49 between Sumber and Arpinchala station on ongoing Katra-Banihal stretch.
The national transporter said the line and level of the tunnel are precisely achieved in break-through. The tunnel T49 is of length 12.758 Kilometres and it is going to be the longest tunnel of the Indian Railways surpassing the Peer Panjal Tunnel of 11.2 Kilometres length constructed on the Banihal-Qazigund section by USBRL. The south portal of T-49 is situated in picturesque Sumber Village at 45 kilometres distance from District H.Q. Ramban at 1400 meters altitude, while the tunnel’s North Portal is located near Arpinchala village Tehsil Khari, in the district of Ramban, in Mahu-Mangat Valley at around 1600 meters altitude. The tunnel T-49 is having two tubes, one is the main tunnel and the other is the escape tunnel.
The tunnel has been built using the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM), which is a modern technique of drill and blast method. The tunnel’s cross section profile is modified horse shoe shaped. In a bid to facilitate construction, three adits namely Hingni Adit, Urnihal Adit and Kundan Adit have been constructed as well. The tunnel has a ruling gradient of 1 in 80 as well as designed speed of 100 Km per hour. According to International Standards, the Escape Tunnel being developed parallel to the Main Tunnel is linked by cross passages at an interval of 375 metres to facilitate rescue and restoration work.
