New Delhi: Railways PSU Ircon International Limited (IRCON) has been awarded with the Jury Special Award for "Outstanding Tunnel Structure" by Civil Engineering & Construction Review (CE&CR) in an award ceremony held in New Delhi recently. The award trophy and citation were accepted on behalf of Udhampur - Srinagar - Baramulla - New BG Rail Line (USBRL) Team.
IRCON was entrusted with the responsibility to execute one of the most challenging Railway Project (i.e. Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail link Project (USBRL)) in the history of Independent India ever undertaken by Indian Railways based on IRCON’s credential to undertake large Infrastructure Projects under challenging conditions.
In the year 2013, IRCON had achieved historic milestone by commissioning India’s Longest tunnel “Pir Panjal Tunnel (Tunnel T-80)” of length 11.25 Km in the Qazigund- Baramulla section of the USBRL Project. As on date, Pir Panjal Tunnel is the longest operational Rail Tunnel of India.
In this year, IRCON has completed Tunnel T-49 of Length 12.75 Km which is targeted for commissioning in the upcoming months. Tunnel T-49 will be the longest transportation rail tunnel of India connecting Sumber station and Arpinchala station with an altitude difference of 144 m between both stations even longer than Pir Panjal Tunnel.
Owing to long tunnel length & location of both ends of tunnel located at different geographical locations, it was envisaged to execute the project in two packages. Three Adits with total length of 1.3 Km were also constructed to provide extra working face in order to speed up the progress. Maximum drive length of 4.10 Km was executed in reverse gradient by continuous dewatering. Total linear length of Tunnelling involved in Tunnel T-49 including Main Tunnel, Escape Tunnel, Adits, X- passage is staggering 27.54 Km.
Various geological challenges like Squeezing, Cavity, high water ingress were encountered and tackled efficiently to achieve this exhilarating target of completion of Tunnel T-49 at a total cost of Rs 2,246 crore.
On commissioning of this tunnel in next few months, it will be the longest Rail Transportation Tunnel on Indian Railways connecting the beautiful valley of Kashmir with Rest of India.
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