Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has completed the breakthrough of India’s longest railway tunnel—Tunnel No. 8—on the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag rail line, significantly enhancing connectivity in the Himalayan region.

Key Points

• The tunnel spans 14.57 kilometers between Devprayag and Janasu, making it India’s longest railway tunnel.
• The breakthrough was achieved using ‘Shakti,’ a 9.11-meter diameter Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), the largest deployed in the Himalayas.
• 10.4 km of the tunnel was built using TBM; the remaining 4.11 km was constructed using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM).
• The Rishikesh-Karnaprayag rail line is a 125 km project by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) to improve access across five Himalayan districts.
• The new line is expected to cut travel time from 7 hours to 2 hours, benefiting Char Dham pilgrims and boosting regional tourism.
• Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami praised the engineering milestone and its socio-economic impact.
• L&T is executing Packages 2 and 4 of the project, which include tunnel construction, bridges, and embankments.