Larsen & Toubro has achieved the breakthrough on India’s longest railway tunnel.
The 14.57km Tunnel No. 8 on Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd’s 125km Rishikesh-Karnaprayag Broad Gauge project stretches between Devprayag and Janasu in Uttarakhand.
The breakthrough on Package 4 was achieved using a 9.11m-diameter single shield TBM. The machine, named Shakti, is the largest TBM to be deployed in the Himalayan region. It made a monthly advance of 413m and built 10.4km of the tunnel. The New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) was used to complete the remaining 4.11km.
Celebrating the breakthrough, union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw described the achievement as “a testament to India’s engineering strength and the commitment to enhancing railway infrastructure in even the most difficult terrains”.
Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami highlighted the tunnel’s potential to revolutionise Uttarakhand’s socio-economic landscape by enhancing connectivity to remote areas, boosting tourism and economic growth.
Larsen & Toubro is responsible for Packages 2 and 4 of the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag project which connects Rishikesh, Devprayag, Srinagar, Rudraprayag, Gauchar, and Karnaprayag across five Himalayan districts.
Package 2 includes 26.6km of tunnel excavation, 28km of tunnel lining, two railway bridges, one road bridge, and embankments.
