By NAK,
Jammu : Difficult terrain and numerous road blocks have further delayed the prestigious Kashmir Railway project being built to connect the state of Jammu and Kashmir with the Himalayan foothills.
If the sources in the executing agencies have to be believed the railway project may get delayed beyond the new completion date of Mid 2012 as fresh alignment was being done at several places, especially in Katra-Qazigund stretch to complete the work.
The 290 km route crosses major earthquake zones, and is subjected to extreme temperatures of cold and heat, as well as inhospitable terrain, making it a challenging engineering project.
The Kashmir Railway has been under construction since 1994 by various railway companies in India. When completed this line will link the city of Jammu in the Northern plains of India with city of Srinagar in the Himalayan Valleys and beyond.
This project has had a long and chequered history but as of 2006 serious progress is being made after it was declared a National Priority Project in 2001. Planned date of completion was August 15, 2007, but several unforeseen complications have pushed back the final completion deadline to some time in 2009. The Banihal tunnel is scheduled for completion only in 2011, hence further delays are likely.
Well informed sources told News Agency of Kashmir that the engineers the work has been stopped at Bridge No 34 in Katra-Reasi stretch due to the geological thrust passing through the area.
“A thrust known as Reasi Thrust is passing through the same area where the Bridge No 34 is being constructed”, sources, preferring anonymity said adding that earlier it was proposed construct a flexible bridge, keeping in view the possible geological upheaval in future.
“However, the idea has been give up and now we are planning to shift the alignment of the bridge 100 meters towards the hill side so as to make it stable”, added sources.
The alignment for the Kashmir Railway presents one of the greatest railway engineering challenges ever faced, with the only contest coming from the recently completed China-Tibet rail route which crosses permanently frozen ground and climbs to more than 5,000m above sea level.
However, making the route even more complex is the requirement to pass through the Himalayan foothills and the mighty Pir Panjal with most peaks exceeding 15,000 feet (4,600 m) in height.
The route includes many bridges, viaducts and tunnels – the lower section of the railway crosses a total of 158 bridges and passes through 20 tunnels, the longest of which is 11 km (six miles) in length. The greatest single engineering challenge is the crossing of the Chenab which involves building a bridge 359 m above the river bed, 1,315m long.
Sources told News Agency of Kashmir that the project has faced another road block at Banihal where two tunnels need realignments.
“Tunnel number 69 and 70 at Banihal are being realigned as the construction company was facing problems in the construction work keeping in view the topography and nature of soil and rock in the area”, source claimed.
They added that the two tunnels were being constructed in slide prone area no competent rock was available.
“The geotechnical investigation was under process so as to find a compatible area for the construction of these two prestigious tunnels on Katra-Qazigund stretch”, sources added.
The two tunnels fall in Zone 3 of the project and were earlier allotted to Jai Parkash Construction Company Private Limited. “However, the tender has been cancelled about a year back and now the work of the two tunnels has been entrusted to Bhomi Construction Company”.
All tunnels including the New Banihal Tunnel are being constructed using the New Austrian Tunneling method. Numerous challenges have been encountered while tunneling through the geologically young and unstable Shivalik mountains. In particular water ingress problems have been seen in the Udhampur to Katra section, sources told NAK adding this has required some drastic solutions using steel arches and several feet of shotcrete.
The Kashmir line will connect with the Indian Railways railhead at Jammu, where a 60 km access route has been built to Udhampur. The main sections of the route are between Udhampur and Qazigund – 75% in tunnels and the responsibility of Konkan Railway Construction Corporation – with the Qazigund-Baramulla section being constructed by Indian Railways.
The second section to Baramulla is due to open in near future. However, this will remain isolated until the remaining, more challenging part of the route including the Chenab River crossing is completed in 2009.
The Kashmir Railway has been designated as a National Project Status and the final cost of the project when completed is likely to be $4 Billion (Rs 15,000 crore).