A rail new rail project connecting Kashmir with Jammu and the rest of the country has been inaugurated by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The new 11.2 km long Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel or the Banihal-Qazigund Tunnel connecting the Bichleri Valley of Banihal with the Qazigund region of Kashmir Valley has been built and is operational.
The digging of the tunnel was completed by October 2011 and its lining and setting of railway tracks was completed by the next year. The trial runs began at the end of the year 2012. By the end of June 2013, commercial runs had begun. The Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel along with the rail link was inaugurated on 26th June 2013. It reduces the distance by 17 km between Qazigund and Banihal.
The tunnel is the longest in India and Asia's third longest railway tunnel. The tunnel's has been constructed at an average elevation of 5,770 ft (1,760 m) and is 1,440 ft (440 m) below the existing road tunnel.
The tunnel has been constructed by Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) for IRCON International Limited, a Public Sector Undertaking, as part of its Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project.
The rail link tunnel will make transportation easy during winters, as during this season the severe weather forces the road tunnel on the Srinagar-Jammu highway to close down.
By 2018, the Udhampur-Banihal section of the Kashmir Railway will get constructed till then people will have to travel to Banihal by road and then take the train from Banihal to Srinagar.
Last Updated on : January 29, 2020
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