The longest on globe, 10.96-km-long railway tunnel in Pir Panchal mountain range, under contruction, will connect Banihal with Lower Munda, the most troubled spot on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.
Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra conducted an aerial survey of the 10.96 km long Pir Panchal tunnel from Banihal to Lower Munda, considered to be the longest tunnel on the Indian Railway network yesterday.
Vohra was apprised that the 199 kilometer Qazigund- Baramulla section will have 800 bridges. This section of the Project is estimated to cost Rs 2,400 crore and so far about Rs 2,200 crore have been spent, marking about 95 per cent of the work. The Qazigund-Baramulla section will have 15 stations and the Srinagar (Nowgam) Station will be, architecturally and aesthetically, the most beautiful station in the Indian Railways. The railway project in the state comprises three sections- Udhampur -Katra, Katra-Qazigund and Qazigund-Baramulla, taken up at a cumulative cost of Rs 11,000 crore. For the current financial year, Rs 1,000 crore have been earmarked.
The Katra-Qazigund segment will have the third highest bridge in the world, over River Chenab at Arnas in Reasi, 350 meters high from the bed-level. The special feature of this section is that 80 percent of the 148 kilometre track will be covered by tunnels and 12 percent by bridges, thus leaving only 8 per cent open.
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