Trains between North and South India to run faster soon

RVNL is constructing the tunnels in the horseshoe section; this form consists of a semi-circular roof together with arched sides and a curved invert

Movement of trains between North India and South India will be faster and smoother from mid-2022, as the Indian Railways is fast-tacking the works of long pending construction of five tunnels for the broad gauge third line between Barkhera - Budni section of Bhopal – Itarsi line project.

Indian Railways’ PSU, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited, is constructing five tunnels with NATM (New Austrian Tunnelling 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.

“Once the project is completed, this will ease congestion on the Golden Diagonal, Delhi-Chennai route. With the commissioning of the third line, trains shall run at a speed of 130 Kmph between Bina-Bhopal-Itarsi sections," the railways said in a statement.

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

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

Barkhera (BKA) - Budni (BNI) section has two tracks at present and a proposed third track falls in Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary (Tiger Habitat), which is an eco-sensitive zone.

Sanctioned in 2011, the works of all the tunnels progressed well and entire project works are expected to complete by June next year, said the railways.

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