Imagenation

A passage to Kashmir

Kashmir is now home to the country’s longest tunnel, which will connect its two major cities

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Published 7 years ago on Apr 17, 2017 1 minute Read

It’s the longest tunnel ever made in the country. At 9.28 km, the Chenani-Nashri tunnel along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, will bring down travel time between the two cities by two hours with the distance now shortened by 30 km. The national highway crosses the steep Himalayan mountains, and hence, is highly weather vulnerable to snow and landslides. Built at a cost of over Rs.3,700 crore, the tunnel, which was inaugurated by the PM on April 2, will make commute safely possible all year around, and in the process, give an impetus to the trade and commerce in the areas it bypasses. The tunnel will also help save about Rs.27 lakh worth of fuel every day. Hailed as an engineering marvel, the tunnel is the first in the country to use the integrated tunnel control system which comprises automatic control of tunnel lighting, mobile connectivity, fire safety, vehicle surveillance, and transverse ventilation. But the big infra project in the terror-hit valley is going to be the 292-km train link from Udhampur in Jammu to Baramulla in Kashmir at an estimated cost of over Rs.11,000 crore.