Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel

Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel

File:Pir panjal tunnel.jpg Pir panjal railway tunnel
Overview
Line	Jammu Tawi-Udhampur- Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Link
Location	Jammu and Kashmir
Status	Operational
Start	Banihal
End	Hillar Shahabad
Operation
Opened	June 2013
Owner	Indian Railways
Operator	Indian Railways
Traffic	Train
Technical
Line length	11.21 km (6.97 mi)
No. of tracks	single track
Track gauge	1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) (Broad gauge)
Operating speed	up to 75 km/h (47 mph)

Kashmir Railway route map

Legend 0Baramulla to Kupwara (planned) 8Sopore 15Hamre 23Pattan 31Mazhom 46Budgam Srinagar-Kargil-Leh railway (planned) 57Srinagar (Nowgam) 63Pampore Jhelum Bridge 69Kakapora 79Awantipura 86Panchgam 93Bijibehra to Pahalgam (planned) 100Anantnag 107Sadura 112Qazigund 120 Hillar Shahabad Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel (11 kilometres (6.8 mi)) 130Banihal Charil Repora Laole Kohli Sangaldan Tunnel (7 kilometres (4.3 mi)) Sangaldan Baralla Surukot Bakkal Chenab Bridge Salal Anji Khad Bridge Reasi 260Katra Chakarwah 285Udhampur 294Ramnagar Tawi Bridge 316Manwal 324Sangar 328Baljata to Poonch (planned) 338Jammu (Jammu Tawi) To Jalandhar-Jammu line

The Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel or Banihal railway tunnel is an 11.215 km (7 mile) railway tunnel located in Pir Panjal Range of middle Himalayas in Jammu and Kashmir, India, north of Banihal town.

The north portal of the railway tunnel is at and its south portal is at .

Length and elevation

The average elevation of the 11.215 km long railway tunnel is 1,760 m (5,770 ft) or about 440 m (1,440 ft) below the existing road tunnel, the Jawahar Tunnel, which is at elevation of about 2,194 m (7,198 ft). The tunnel is 8.40 m wide with a height of 7.39 m. There is a three metre wide road along the length of the tunnel for the maintenance of railway tracks and emergency relief. It is India's longest railway tunnel and Asia's fourth longest railway tunnel (53.85-km long Seikan Tunnel in Japan is the longest; 28 km long Taihang Tunnel in China is the second longest and 21 km long Lulianghsan Tunnel in Shanxi, China is the third longest). It takes approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds for the train to cross the tunnel.

Progress of the project

The new 11.215 km (7 mile) long Banihal-Qazigund tunnel for the Kashmir Railway line connecting Bichleri Valley of Banihal with Qazigund area of Kashmir Valley has been constructed as a part of its Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project. The boring was completed in four years in October 2011, its lining and laying of rail tracks was completed in the next one year and trial run commenced on 28 December 2012. The tunnel was commissioned on 26 June 2013 and commercial runs started from 27 June 2013.

The rail tunnel reduces the distance between Quazigund and Banihal by 17 km (from 35 km by road to 17.5 km by train). Banihal railway station is situated at 1,702 m (5,584 ft) above mean sea level. The railway network in Kashmir from Banihal to Baramulla is now 137 km. Until the 148 km Katra-Banihal section of Kashmir railway gets constructed in another five years in 2018, people can travel from Jammu Tawi or Udhampur to Banihal by road and take the train from Banihal to Srinagar through the Banihal railway tunnel.

Gallery

• KashmirVale.jpg

  View towards the massive Pir Panjal range the Railway line passes through it.

See also

• Kashmir Railway

External links

• Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel T80 By N.A.T.M at IRICEN

• http://usbrl.org/aboutus.php
• http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/indian-railways-pir-panjal-tunnel-kashmir-valley-asia-second-longest-tunnel/1/239901.html