Built at a cost of Rs 3,720 crore, India's longest road tunnel ready to be commissioned

India has joined the league of extraordinary nations by constructing the longest road tunnel in the country on the strategic Srinagar-Jammu national highway.

Built at the cost of Rs 3720 crores, the nine kilometer long Nashri road tunnel is expected to be commissioned early next year. An engineering marvel, it will mark the country's debut in adopting the integrated tunnel control system (ITCS).

The state-of-the-art ITCS system, which is hallmark of selective few countries in the world, will ensure automatic control of tunnel lighting, ventilation, communication, fire control, vehicle monitoring et al. The tunnel will cut down the distance by around 30 kilometers and will save the motorists travel time by two hours.

"There was no road tunnel with nine kilometer distance in the country till now. Nashri tunnel will be the longest road tunnel in the country. Civil works inside the tunnel is complete. Only some works on the north side is pending which will be completed in next eight to 10 days. Mechanical and electric works are currently on", MT Attarde, project director of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), told DNA.

The tunnel and approach roads provide 11km alternative route for 41km of the existing national highway. In addition to the main tunnel, it will have a parallel escape tunnel for the evacuation of commuters in case of any eventuality.

The two tubes of the tunnel will be internally connected through 29 cross-passages (each after a gap of 300 meters) and the escape tunnel will be used exclusively by pedestrians.

"Everything is automatic. There are two ducts in the tunnel –one for fresh air and another for exhausting the polluted air. There are CCTVs, fight fighting equipment and communication systems installed all along the route. If anything goes wrong the people sitting in the control room will come to know instantly", said Attarde

The Srinagar-Jammu national highway passes through steep mountains and hundreds of people have lost their lives in accidents and weather vagaries over the years. The authorities have taken several measures to make the journey safer and the tunnel is part of a four lane project on the national highway undertaken to give respite to the commuters.

The NHAI is also constructing another major road tunnel – 8.45 km long Banihal Qazigund stretch - on Srinagar Jammu national highway, which will again cut down the distance between two towns by 16 kms.

The Kashmir Valley is also being connected by a 292 km train link from Udhampur in Jammu to Baramulla in Kashmir. The Rs 11,000-crore rail link is divided into three sections — Udhampur-Katra, Katra-Qazigund and Qazigund-Baramulla.

The first and third stretch of the rail link has been made operational. But the train to valley will become reality only when middle 148 km long section will be completed. This stretch will have the world's tallest railway bridge – 359 metres tall - on Chenab river in district Reasi.