Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, May 15: The ongoing work on India’s longest road tunnel connecting Chenani with Nashri is all set to be further speeded up for its possible completion ahead of the schedule as the adjoining Escape tunnel is near finishing and likely to be made functional by the end of this month.
More than 68 percent physical progress in work on 9 km long two- lane Main tunnel has been achieved while the parallel Escape tunnel is being given final lining after almost completion of excavation.
This was informed to the Excelsior by R P Singh, Project Director National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).
“Even as scheduled date of completion of this Rs 2519 crores project is May 2016, the executing agency is hopeful of finishing the job by December 2015, five months ahead of the deadline notwithstanding hindrances in the progress due to labour strikes, adverse geological conditions and traffic restrictions etc,” Mr Singh added.
Excavation of the Main tunnel will be finished by December this year following which the electrical power distribution, ventilation, lighting, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), fire control system, video surveillance, traffic control, emergency call and communication works will take around one year for completion, he explained.
The tunnel is part of proposed four-laning of Jammu-Srinagar National Highway and will act as an all-weather alternative to the existing NH-1A section connecting Chenani in Udhampur with Nashri in Ramban district. It will also reduce the existing road distance between the two points from 41 kms to 10.89 kms.
The main tunnel is being connected with a parallel Escape tunnel via 29 Cross Passages. Each Cross Passage is 34 meters long and at a distance of every 300 meters.
On the Escape tunnel, which has 3.7 m carriageway and eight meters height, almost hundred percent excavations and around 40 percent final lining works have been completed while 90 percent progress in work on Cross Passages has been achieved.
Once this Escape tunnel is made functional by the end of this month, the ongoing work on Main tunnel will be multiplied with easy movement of more men and machinery by M/s Leighton Contractors (India) Pvt Ltd, contractor of the job work and executing agency.
The commissioning of Escape tunnel will help the executing agency to simultaneously progress on a number of points of the Main tunnel where the work is presently going on its North and South ends.
So far, work on Main Tunnel Heading and Benching has registered a progress of 78 percent and 60 percent, respectively while 30 percent of its Final Lining has been completed.
Started on May 23, 2012, Rs 1732 crores have so far been spent on pre-construction and construction activities on this single tube Main Tunnel, which has 9.35 meters carriageway with approach road of 1350 meters on South and 563 meters on North.
On both ends of the main tunnel, there will be a Toll Plaza and Rotary Junction. There will be nine Truck lay- byes and two bus stops in the tunnel.
The New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) of sequential excavation and support is being used to construct the tunnel, which is longest road tunnel in India.
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