Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel: Decoding India’s longest train tunnel which connects Kashmir with rest of the country

Dec 30, 2023 Girish Khurana

A project of national importance, India’s longest train tunnel Pir Panjal (or T-80) is the only broad gauge mountain railway in the country that stretches through the Pir Panjal mountain range between Quazigund and Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir

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The 11.2km long tunnel is a part of the 272km Udhampur – Srinagar – Baramulla rail link project undertaken by the Northern Railways

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It operates 440m below the existing Jawahar Tunnel, as it is inoperable in winter due to heavy snowfall in the region

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In 2013, the trial run of the country’s longest railway tunnel was conducted smoothly, when a train covered the 11 km distance in 20 minutes

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It took 30 minutes to cover the entire distance of 17.5 km from Qazigund to Banihal

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The 8.4m wide tunnel has a 3m wide road, which runs along the track for maintenance and emergency purposes

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Initially, the tunnel was the part of 119km Quazigund to Baramulla railway line which became operational in October 2009. The Pir Panjal tunnel reduced the distance between Quazigund in the north to Banihal in the south to just 11km

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The height of the railway tunnel is kept 450m lower than that of the road tunnel so the effect of snow is minimal. Besides, there is provision for ventilation, fire fighting, and safety monitoring in the tunnel

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