The Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel or Qazigund railway tunnel is an long railway tunnel located in

Pir Panjal Range The Pir Panjal Range ( Kashmiri: ) is a group of mountains in the Lesser Himalayan region, running from east-southeast (ESE) to west-northwest (WNW) across the Indian territories of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir and then Pakistan's ...

of middle

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

in Jammu and Kashmir,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, south of

Qazigund Qazigund, also known as Gateway Of Kashmir, is a town and in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Qazigund is located at . It has an average elevation of 1670 m (5478 feet) above mean sea level. Qazigund Bypass Passes Th ...

town. It is a part of the

Jammu–Baramulla line The Jammu–Baramulla line is a railway track being laid to connect the Kashmir Valley in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir with Jammu railway station and thence to the rest of the country. The 356 km railway track will star ...

. The north portal of the railway tunnel is at and its south portal is at .

Length and elevation

The average elevation of the railway tunnel is or about below the existing road tunnel, the

Jawahar Tunnel Jawahar Tunnel, also called Banihal Tunnel is a road tunnel in Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Named after the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru, it was constructed for round-the-year surface transport between 1954 ...

, which is at elevation of about . The tunnel is wide with a height of . There is a road along the length of the tunnel for the maintenance of railway tracks and emergency relief. It takes approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds for the train to cross the tunnel. For a short time, Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel was India's longest railway tunnel. Once completed, the 11.55 km long rail tunnel between

Senapati Senapati (Sanskrit: सेनापति; ''sena-'' meaning "army", ''-pati'' meaning "lord") is a title in ancient India denoting the rank of military commander or general of the army. It was a hereditary title of nobility used in the Marath ...

and

Imphal West , native_name_lang = Meitei , other_name = omp, Nongchup Yumphal , nickname = , settlement_type = District of Manipur , image_skyline = Knagla fort, manipur, India 6.jpg , image_a ...

districts on Jiribam–Imphal line will surpass the ''Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel'' as India's longest tunnel.Imphal, 4th capital city in NE, to come on railway map within 27 months
Assam Tribune, 13 Sep 2021.

Progress of the project

The new Banihal-

tunnel for the

connecting Bichleri Valley of Banihal with Qazigund area of Kashmir Valley has been constructed as a part of its

Udhampur Udhampur (ˌʊd̪ʱəmpur) is a city and a municipal council in Udhampur district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters of Udhampur District. Named after Raja Udham Singh, it serves as the district capital ...

- Srinagar-

Baramulla Baramulla (), also known as Varmul () in Kashmiri, is a town and a municipality in the Baramulla district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is also the administrative headquarters of the Baramulla district. It is on the ...

rail link project. The boring was completed in four years in October 2011, its lining and laying of rail tracks was completed in the next one year and trial run commenced on 28 December 2012. The tunnel was commissioned on 26 June 2013 and commercial runs started from 27 June 2013. The rail tunnel reduces the distance between

Quazigund Qazigund, also known as Gateway Of Kashmir, is a town and in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Qazigund is located at . It has an average elevation of 1670 m (5478 feet) above mean sea level. Qazigund Bypass Passes T ...

and Banihal by (from by road to by train). Banihal railway station is situated at above mean sea level. The railway network in Kashmir from Banihal to

is now . Until the Katra-Banihal section of Jammu–Baramulla line gets constructed (may open in 2021), people can travel from

Jammu Tawi Jammu Tawi (station code: JAT) is a railway station in Jammu city in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Background Jammu Tawi is the largest railway station in Jammu and Kashmir. It is a major railhead for other places in the r ...

to Banihal by road and take the train from Banihal to Srinagar through the Banihal railway tunnel.

Gallery

File:KashmirVale.jpg, View towards the massive

Pir Panjal range The Pir Panjal Range ( Kashmiri: ) is a group of mountains in the Lesser Himalayan region, running from east-southeast (ESE) to west-northwest (WNW) across the Indian territories of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir and then Pakistan's ...

the Railway line passes through it.

References

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External links

Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel T80 By N.A.T.M
at

IRICEN Indian Railways Institute of Civil Engineering (IRICEN), Pune is the training institute for the Civil engineers of the Indian Railways. The institute had a modest start in 1959 as the ''Permanent Way Training School'' for training entry level Ci ...

Railway tunnels in India Buildings and structures in Jammu and Kashmir Rail transport in Jammu and Kashmir * 2011 establishments in Jammu and Kashmir Ramban district Tunnels completed in 2013

Length and elevation

Progress of the project

Gallery

See also

References

External links