Char Dham Railway Project: A look at the engineering marvel in the Himalayas

India’s Char Dham Railway project is well underway in Uttarakhand with the Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd. (MEIL) has completed 10 kilometres of tunnel works. The project, perhaps the most ambitious to be undertaken yet, is the Indian Railways’ proposed route to improve connectivity to the Char Dham shrines of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath in the Garhwali region of the Himalayas. Let’s take a closer look at what it is, why it is important and the work being undertaken: What is it? The 125.20-km-long Rishikesh – Karnaprayag Railway Tunnel project in Uttarkhand is a single-track broad gauge railway line with 12 stations. As per Economic Times, it will include a 14 kilometre tunnel between Devprayag and Janasu, the longest in India. The broad-gauge line route from Rishikesh to Karnaprayag will have 35 bridges, 17 tunnels, and 12 stations (Rishikesh, Muni Ki Reti, Shivpuri, Manjilgaon, Sakni, Devprayag, Kirtinagar, Srinagar, Dhari, Rudraprayag, Gholtir, Ghauchar, and Karanprayag). These places of worship are near and dear to the hearts of  devotees. It will also have other formation structures across Dehradun, Tehri, Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts of Uttarkhand. Om Prakash Malgudi, senior project manager for Railway Vikas Nigam Limited, told The Times of India on Monday that the track would begin at Virbhadra, close to Rishikesh (29 August). The railway tunnel was initially budgeted at 16,216 crore before being revised to Rs 23,000 crore. How will it help?

When ready, it will reduce the travel time between Rishikesh and Karnaprayag from seven hours to just over two hours.

In addition, it will improve connectivity to the Char Dham shrines of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath in the Garhwali region of the Himalayas. As a result, tourism, adventure sports, trade and transport will be boosted. It will also strengthen and ease military operations for the defence sector. The Char Dham Yatra is considered one of India’s most prominent pilgrimages. Every year, a large number of pilgrims and devotees across the country flock to Char Dham sites. A large number of foreign and domestic tourists are attracted to trekking as well as sight seeing in the state of Uttarakhand. The existing road connectivity travels through fragile mountainous slopes in the region and suffers from serious handicaps of load, speed, safety and capacity. Travellers and pilgrims must travel through narrow ghat roads, always prone to mud and landslides due to frequent rains. Thus, the lives of people travelling this route are always at risk. Sometimes traffic will be held up for long hours and days. Thus, Indian Railways connectivity to these Char Dham regions will make the travel much safer, comfortable, environment friendly, and economical. The project is considered of national strategic importance and is tracked on the Central Government’s PRAGATI (Pro-active Governance and Timely Implementation) portal. [caption id=“attachment_10799821” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Devotees going to Kedarnath Temple by mule ride, palanquin and other ways as part of their Char Dham Yatra. ANI[/caption] The work MEIL has completed 10 km tunnel works of the 19 km along with 19 cross passages in the package -7B of the Char Dham Railway Tunnel project in Uttarakhand.

The company is excavating and drilling the tunnel with advanced NATM technology.

The tunnel works are ongoing at an altitude of 2,250 ft above Mean Sea Level in the eastern Himalayan ranges. Despite heavy rainfall, landslides, floods, hard rock formations and topographic challenges, this arduous task was achieved in just 18 months thanks to the 1,000-strong workforce working day and night. The Rail Vikas Nigam Limited RVNL has praised MEIL for carrying out speedy works and awarded the company as the best contractor for the Char Dham Project. Srinadh Reddy, MEIL’s project in charge of the Char Dham Railway Tunnel project, said, “We are working hard round-the-clock with RVNL officials to complete this project on time. We are proud to be part of the nation’s important strategic project and for Uttarakhand’s development.”

The project is divided into 9 packages, of which  MEIL is executing two parts: 7B and 8.

More from Explainers

Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar Giorgio Armani will: Who will get the inheritance? What happens to his fashion empire?

In 7B, the MEIL is executing tunnel works for 19 km, of which a 9.5 km-long twin-tube tunnel (T13) tunnel from Narkota to Sumerpur along with a railway station yard at Tilani in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand. The twin tube tunnel consists of a 10-km-long main tunnel and a 9-km-long escape tunnel. It will also construct 33 cross passages between the main and escape tunnels. In addition, the company will build 1 ROB and 2 box culverts. In Package 8, the MEIL is constructing a 13.5-km-long twin tube tunnel from Sumerpur (Rudraprayag district) to Gaucher (Chamoli district) and railway station yards at Gholtir and Gaucher. It also will construct 45 cross passages between the main and escape tunnels, three bridges and two cut and cover tunnels. A twin tube tunnel consists of a Main tunnel and an Escape tunnel. Therefore, it also needs to execute the 45 cross passages. As a whole, in this package, the MEIL is executing 27-km-long tunnel works, of which 13.5 km is the main tunnel and 13.5 km is the escape tunnel. Currently, 5 km of tunnel works and 10 cross passages have been completed. A 1,200-strong workforce is involved in work day and night. Advanced machinery deployed MEIL has deployed machinery from advanced automatic boomer, semi-automatic boomer, shotcrete machine, Hagg loader, hydraulic excavator, wheel loader, dumpers, transit mixers, scissor platform, breaker, truck mounted grouting pump, DG sets and batching plant, mobile crusher in the Char Dham tunnel project. The machinery is instrumental in speeding up the execution works. In the Char Dham Railway Project, work is ongoing in hilly terrain and difficult circumstances. The company has laid electrical safety lines to avoid electrical shocks. While blasting, the safety supervisors and engineers take utmost precautions. They have installed Vibro Meters, Blasting Alarms, Hooters etc, for the safety of the workforce. In addition, air shafts have been established to provide fresh air and oxygen into a tunnel for comfortable breathing inside the tunnel. Oxygen meters and equipment to identify dust percentage in the air are also installed. In addition, the sites are equipped with a first aid centre and an ambulance. Besides providing a comfortable stay and healthy hygiene food, the company provides insurance for its labour workforce, engineers and staff. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.