Indian Railways has focussed on execution of maintenance works pending for several years   confronting Railways with severe bottlenecks. In this series, Indian Railway has taken up major tunnelling work in a big way for Broad gauge 3^rd line between Barkhera - Budni (26.50 kms.) section of Bhopal – Itarsi third line projectof West Central Railway zone.

Indian Railways’ PSU, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited is constructing Five Tunnels with NATM (New Austrian Tunneling Method) having ballast less track in connection with third electrified broad-gauge railway line between Barkhera - Budni on Bhopal - Itarsi route on Bhopal Division of West Central Railway in Sehore and Raisen Districts of Madhya Pradesh.

This will ease congestion on Golden Diagonal, Delhi- Chennai route. With the commissioning of third line, trains shall run at a speed of 130 Kmph between Bina-Bhopal-Itarsisection.

 

For capacity enhancement, work of construction of third line on Bhopal- Itarsi Section is sanctioned by Railway Board in three separate works i.e.

(1). Habibganj (HBJ) - Barkhera (BKA) - 41.42 KMs – Work Completed

(2). Barkhera (BKA) - Budni (BNI) 26.5 KMs – Work in Progress

(3). Budni (BNI) - Itarsi (ET) 25 KMs – Work Completed

Section 1 & 3 fall in plain territory and do not involve issues e.g. Wildlife/Forest clearances, land acquisition etc. In Section 2 i.e. Barkhera (BKA) - Budni (BNI) section, the entire length of existing two tracks as well as the proposed track falls either in Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary (Tiger Habitat) or it's Eco-Sensitive Zone.

Salient Features of the project

1)	Year of Sanction
	Barkhera-Budni 3rd Line	:	2011 – 2012
2)	Project Cost
	Barkhera-Budni	:	Rs 991.60 Cr
3)	Length of Project	:	26.50 Km
4) 5)	Number of Stations Number of Tunnels	: :	4 5
6)	Date of Completion
	Barkhera-Budni	:	June 2022

 

RVNL is constructing these tunnels in horse shoe section; this form consists of a semi-circular roof together with arched sides and a curved invert.The method follows to construct this tunnel is NATM (New Austrian Tunneling Method). NATM is a support method to stabilize the tunnel perimeter by means of sprayed concrete, anchors and other supports and uses monitoring to control stability

The location of these tunnels is: -

S.No	Tunnel No.	Length	Remarks
1	T1 (Budni)	1080.00	Single Track
2	T2 (Midghat)	200.00	Single Track
3	T3 (Bhimkoti)	200.00	Single Track
4	T4 (Choka)	140.00	Double Track
5	T5 (Barkhera)	530.00	Double Track
Total Length                    2150.00

 

Tunnel T-1:

Breakthrough of Tunnel-1(1080 m) was done on 18.03.2021.

Present status:

• Invert cleaning and PCC work in progress.
• Excavation and installation for 315mm dia Central drain is in progress.
• Installation of 160mm dia perforated side drain with Nofine concrete is in progress
• Waterproofing installation in progress
• Invert lining (Bottom RCC) in progress

 

TunnelT-2:

Tunnel -2 is a 200 m Single Track tunnel.

Present status:

• Portal development work is in progress.
• Epoxy grouting in existing tunnel in progress.

 

Tunnel T-3:

Tunnel -3 is a 200 m Single Track tunnel.

Present status:

• Underground excavation around 51m from Portal-1 and Portal-2 is completed. At present benching excavation in progress from Portel-2 side.

 

Tunnel T-4:

Tunnel -4 is a 140 m Double Track tunnel.

Present status:

• Portal development work is in progress at Itarsi end. Tunnel excavation started from Bhopal end. 12m excavation completed.

 

Tunnel T-5:

Breakthrough of Tunnel-5(530 m) was done on 19.02.2021.

The tunnel was constructed on a 500 m curvature. The total length of Tunnel-5 is 530m and the width is 14.4 m, which is exceptional, as this is a double track tunnel. The constructing of single track tunnels is the norm over Indian Railways. As Tunnel-5 lies in a wildlife sanctuary, very strict procedures were followed which included tunnelling work being done only in one shift from sunrise to sunset. Tunnelling was started in May 2020 from both ends as per procedure and in Feb 21 the complete tunnel was excavated on 19.02.2021. The tunnels from both ends met in perfect alignment with zero error, thus maintaining complete accuracy and resulting in a perfect breakthrough. This was achieved despite three months of heavy monsoon and lockdown period. All safety norms were observed successfully

 

Present status:

• Complete excavation by heading and Benching of Double Track Tunnel T-5 completed on 09.05.2021
• Invert cleaning and PCC work in progress.
• Excavation and installation for 315mm dia Central drain is in progress.
• Installation of 160mm dia perforated side drain with No fine concrete is in progress
• Waterproofing installation in progress
• Invert lining (Bottom RCC) in progress

 

Breakthrough of Tunnel-1(1080 m) was completed on 18.03.2021

 

 

 

Installation of water proofing membrane at T-1:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Portal development work of Tunnel T-3 in progress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breakthrough of Tunnel-5 (530 m) was completed on 19.02.2021.

 

 

 

Installation of water proofing membrane at T-5 in progress

 

 

Reinforcement for Invert Lining at Tunnel-5

 

 

 

 

 

 

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RJ/DS

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