The Prime
Minister Shri Narendra Modi will dedicate India’s longest highways tunnel - the
Chenani- Nashri tunnel in Jammu & Kashmir- to the nation on 2nd
April, 2017. An ideal example of the government’s ‘Make
in India’ and ‘Skill India’ initiative, the
9 km
long, twin-tube, all-weather tunnel between
Udhampur and Ramban in Jammu & Kashmir is not only India’s longest highways tunnel but also
Asia’s longest bi-directional highways tunnel. Built at an elevation of 1200
metres on one of the most difficult Himalayan terrains, the tunnel will cut
the travel time between Jammu and Srinagar by two hours, bypassing about 41
kms of road length. It will also ensure an all weather passage on a route that
often sees heavy traffic jams and disruptions due to landslides,
snow, sharp curves, breakdown of vehicles and accidents.
The tunnel was
constructed at a cost of about Rs 3720 crores. It is a part of the 286-km-long
four-laning of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway. The structure consists of
a 9 km long, two-laned main tunnel with a parallel escape tunnel of same
length. The two tunnels are connected by 29 cross passages at regular intervals
along the entire length of the tunnel. These cross passages can be used for
evacuation of vehicles and commuters in case of breakdown or any other emergency.
There are two minor bridges on the south and north sides and 4-lane approach
roads with Toll Plazas on both ends of the tunnel. The maximum
height permitted in the tunnel is 5 meters and for checking the height special
sensors have been installed just before the toll points at both ends.
The
tunnel has an efficient, transverse ventilation
system. There are inlets bringing fresh air at 8 metre intervals and outlet for
exhaust every 100 metres. There is also a fully-integrated control system
with ventilation, communication, power supply, incident detection, SOS call box
and fire fighting. Fitted with intelligent traffic mechanism, the tunnel has
fully automatic smart control and no human intervention will be required for
its operations. The tunnel is also equipped with advanced scanners to ward
off any security threat. Very few tunnels in the world have this kind of fully
integrated tunnel control.
The project is
also environment friendly. The time saving on the Jammu- Srinagar route will further
result in fuel saving of approximately Rs 27 lakhs per day. Besides, the construction
of the tunnel has avoided large –scale deforestation.
The
Chenani-Nashri tunnel will have a very positive impact on the state economy. In
line with the Skill India initiative of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the
skill sets of local people were developed and improved, and they were engaged
for construction of this tunnel. The project has provided employment to
over 2,000 unskilled and skilled youth of Jammu and Kashmir as 94 percent of
the work force was from the state. Around
600 to 900 people from across the country also worked on this project in 3
shifts over the past 4 years.
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NP/MS/RS