The Kashmir Railway Project aims to provide reliable transportation to the Kashmir Valley by constructing a 345km railway line. It faces significant challenges due to operating in mountainous terrain with extreme weather conditions. Major obstacles include long tunnels, high bridges, and construction through seismic zones. The line is being built in sections, with the most difficult being the 148km Katra-Quazigund leg requiring a 1.3km bridge over the Chenab River that is 359m high. Construction began in 1994 but has faced delays, with the projected completion date now in 2020.

1. Kashmir Rail Project
Challenges, solutions and current status
Presented By:
Pankaj Kumar
120040112

2. Kashmir Railway Project (KRP)
• To provide an alternative and reliable transportation system to
J&K
• 345 km long railway line for linking the Kashmir Valley.
• Biggest project to be undertaken by IR since independence
• Officially called Jammu-Udhampur-Katra-Quazigund-Baramulla
link (JUSBRL)
• Under construction since 1994, was given the status of a
national project in 2002 under the Vajpayee government.
• The initial deadline was for 2009. Various delays pushed it to
2012 and now extended to 2020

3. Project Details
• There will be 30 stations and they will be served by 10 to 12
trains a day
• Being built to the Indian standard gauge of 1,676mm gauge,
laid on concrete sleepers with continuous welded rail and
with a minimum curve radius of 676m
• A ruling gradient of 1% has been set to provide a safe,
smooth and reliable journey
• Maximum line speed is 100km/h (60mph).
• Cross a total of over 750 bridges and pass through over 100
kilometres (62 mi) of tunnels

5. Challenges
• There are various constraints such as allowable
maximum speed, high gradients, sharp curves,
stations to be kept for optimum utilization, safety
and minimum maintenance need in future in
addition to the basic need for providing the link
with the rest of the network
• Projects in mountainous regions are associated
with special features such as deep cuttings, high
embankments, tall piers and long span bridges
across deep gorges and fast flowing flash flood
rivers with big boulders and unusually long
tunnels etc

6. Challenges
• 345km route crosses major earthquake zones,
and is subjected to extreme temperatures of cold
and heat, as well as inhospitable terrain
• Extreme winters with heavy snowfalls
• Kashmir is an electricity scarce region at present
• Young Himalayas, where geology is poor and
changes occur frequently.

7. Challenges
• Katra-Quazigund leg is the most difficult stretch of this project.
In this leg Salal to Quazigund stretch lies in the territory where
virtually no habitation, road or tracking path existed.
• In Katra-Quazigund a significant part of the project lies in
tunnels, with the longest being about 10.96 km.
• There will be several bridges. The tallest bridge is about 359 m
above bed level and is over 1.3 km in length over river Chenab
• Water ingress problems have been seen in the Udhampur to
Katra section. This has required some drastic solutions using
steel arches and several feet of shotcrete

8. Security Challenges
• Regions the line passes through are continuing to face terrorist
challenges
• Train will pass through some of the most vulnerable areas in the
Valley, such as Budgam, Pulwama, Srinagar and Anantnag
districts, to which militants have clear and easy access in the
absence of security
• The presence of the international border with Pakistan close by
aggravates these challenges
• Plans for close circuit cameras at all major bridges, tunnels and
railway stations have been made. Lighting is provided on all major
bridges and inside tunnels.

9. Project Sub sections
• Jammu-Udhampur Rail Link Project (53 km) – Leg 0
– sub-mountainous region.
– It is 53 km long and has 10 km length of tunnels, 36 major bridges and 122 minor
bridges.
– his stretch has already been completed and commissioned in April 2005
– The completion cost of this stretch is Rs. 522 crore.
• Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL)
Project (202 km)
– Leg-1 – Udhampur-Katra section (25 km )
• involves about 10.9 km of tunneling. Nine major bridges, 29 minor bridges and 10
ROB/RUBs, in addition to about 38.86 lac cum of earthwork
• approximate cost of this stretch is Rs. 640 cr.
• tallest bridge in this section is 90 m high (Br. No. 20) and the longest tunnel (T-80) is
3.15 km long.

10. Project Sub sections
• Leg-2 – Katra-Quazigund (148 km)
– toughest sector, ever been constructed on the Indian Railways
– full of tunnels and bridges/viaducts. Terrain in this region is full of poor geology and
faults.
– On this section a bridge is being constructed across river Chenab which will have an
arched span of 465 m and a total length of the bridge is around 1.3 km. This will be
about 359 m above the bed level of the river
– The stretch between river Chenab and Banihal is through a virgin territory and requires
construction of approximately 300 km of access roads of which about 110 km has
already been constructed
– At Quazigund end of this stretch, the longest tunnel on Indian Railways is being
constructed (Pir Panjal Tunnel). This tunnel is 10.95 km long and will pierce through the
Pir Panjal range below the snow line.
• Leg 3-Quazigund-Baramulla (119 km)
– falls in the Kashmir Valley, which is a natural bowl, surrounded by the mountain ranges
– there are no tunnels, heavy bridging is required across rivers, canals and roads
– 64 major bridges and 640 minor bridges in this section
– completed in October 2009

11. Rolling Stock
• Freight services conveying grain and petroleum products will run
in between 10- 12 passengers services that are planned to
operate daily
• An eight-coach DEMU will run on the Quazigund-Baramulla
section of line. Each coach will carry 90 passengers. It will run
twice a day in both directions.
• The train has been fixed with a snow cutter system for clearing
snow on the track. The temperature in coaches can also be
maintained at 20°C during winter.
• Passenger services will be provided by the new aerodynamic High
Power diesel multiple units with special features

12. Rolling Stock (contd…)
• The air-conditioned coaches have wide windows for a panoramic view,
anti-skid flooring, sliding doorways, heating facilities, an attractive colour
scheme and executive class reclining seats inside.
• The driver's cabin has a heating and defogging unit to take care of cold
climatic conditions and is fitted with single lookout glass windows to give
a wider view.
• A snow-cutting type cattle guard has been attached at the driving end of
the train for clearing snow from the tracks during winter. In view of the
peculiar climate of the valley, the 1,400-horsepower diesel engine for the
train has been provided with a heating system for a quick and trouble-free
start in the winters. A public information system with display and
announcement facilities are included in the coaches which have
pneumatic suspension for better riding comfort. There is also a
compartment for physically challenged people with wider doors
• Maintenance of all rolling stock and locomotives will be at the newly built
Budgam workshop just north of Srinagar.

13. Responsibility
• Indian Railways is in charge of the Udhampur-Katra Section (25 km)
• Konkan Railway Corporation Limited is in charge of the Katra-Laole Section
(90 km). This is arguably the toughest portion of the railway with over 92% of the
line either inside a tunnel or on a bridge. The bridges comprise of 12 km, the
tunnels of 72 km and only a minuscule part of this tortuous stretch, i.e. 6 km is on
normal ground
• IRCON, a Public Sector railway construction company is in charge of the Laole-
Baramulla Section (175 km). Another tough, but less brutal section
• HCC has won the tender to construct both the North and South Section of the
11 km Banihal tunnel across the Pir Panjal range for approx US$120 million. Work
is completed
• AFCONS with Ultra Engineering (South Korea) will design and construct the Chenab
Bridge for US$130 million
• Gammon India with Archirodon Construction (South Africa) will build the Anji
Khad Bridge for US$100 million.

14. Financials
• Till April 2011, 7,165 crore had already been spent. While
the budget for last year was 1,000 crore, it has been
marginally raised to 1,100 crore for current fiscal
• Delay in the completion of the project led to an increase
in the cost of requiring additional funds. The Indian
Government previously increased the projected cost of
the railway line in 2007, upping the initial estimate of
Rs30.7bn ($569.3m) to Rs112bn ($2.1bn).
• The Indian Government has cleared a proposal to earmark
Rs190bn ($3.5bn) of additional funds (Jan 2012)

15. Infrastructure and construction
• Total of over 750 bridges and over 100
kilometres (62 mi) of tunnels, the longest of
which is about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) in length
• The greatest engineering challenges involve the
crossing of the Chenab river, which involves
building a 1,315-metre-long (4,314 ft) bridge 359
metres (1,178 ft) above the river bed, and the
crossing of the Anji Khad, which involves
building a 657-metre-long (2,156 ft) bridge 186
metres (610 ft) above the river bed

16. Pir Panjal Tunnel(T-80)

17. Pir Panjal Tunnel(T-80)
• At 10.96km long, the Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel is India's longest
and Asia's 2nd longest tunnel
• passes through the Pir Panjal mountain range in Jammu and
Kashmir in India
• aimed at reducing the travel distance between Quazigund and
Banihal to only 11 km
• cover the distance from the south to the north side of the
mountain in 6.6 minutes
• Completed in October 2011
• Cost of Rs10bn ($201.8m)
• Construction of the tunnel was carried out by Hindustan
Construction Company and took over six years

18. Pir Panjal Tunnel(T-80)
• 8.4m-wide and 7.3m-high tunnel and is up to 1 100 m below the
surface
• construction of a 3m-wide road that runs alongside the railway
tunnel for maintenance and emergency evacuation
• 100 percent water-proof and is also equipped with fire fighting
system throughout its entire length
• construction of the tunnel started in November 2005 and was
complete in 2011
• The fascinating fact about the tunnel excavation is that the total
excavated quantity was equal to one mountain
• It runs 440m below the existing Jawahar Tunnel, which is the only
road link from the region to the rest of India meant for vehicular
traffic only- which usually gets blocked during winters owing to
heavy snowfall in the region
• Due to the changing geological strata of the young Himalayan rock,
New Australian Tunneling Methodology (NATM) was adopted for the
construction

20. Chenab Bridge
• Chenab Bridge will be the highest railway structure of its kind in the world, 35 m
higher than the tip of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
• Chenab bridge is 1.3 km long and has the third largest arch span in the world. At
1,178 feet, it will be the highest bridge in the world once completed
• Located near the Salal Hydro Power Dam, the bridge was originally planned as a
1,315 metre-long bridge having 17 spans
• Afcons Infrastructure Limited was awarded the contract for the bridge.
• While deciding to stop all construction works on the Katra-Qazigund section in
2008, the Railway Ministry had proposed a change in the location of the bridge,
from the gorge to a wide valley two to three kilometers upstream of the original
location. Since the newly proposed location had a higher bed level, the height of
the bridge, had it been constructed there, would have come down to about 120-
150 meters from river bed
• The Railways decided to stick to the location it had originally chosen to construct
the Chenab Bridge — billed as the highest in the world at a height of 359 metres
from the river bed. At 343 metres, Millau Viaduct in France is the tallest bridge
in the world

22. Operational Accidents & Casualities
• June 2004 — Sudhir Kumar Pundir, an IRCON Engineer and his brother Sanjay
were kidnapped and murdered by terrorists in the valley
• June 2005 — Altaf Hussain, A laborer working in a Tunnel at Tathyar (HCC) was
killed by a collapse. Two others were injured.
• May 16, 2007 —daughter of Mushtaq Ahmad Wagay and daughter of Mohammad
Ayub Wani (9 & 7 yrs)drowned in a ditch constructed by Railway Company
• Feb 14, 2008 — A Nepali labourer Tika Ram Balwari son of Tuya Narayan was killed
after a boulder hit him in at Uri Varmul, presumably on the Kashmir rail project for
HCC
• Apr 18, 2008 — Six labourers of a private company, engaged with the Katra-
Qazigund railway line project, were killed and two others received injuries when a
tipper carrying them rolled down into a deep gorge in Lower Juda Morh near Kouri
in Reasi district late at night
• Mar 27, 2011 — Two workers were killed at an under-construction railway bridge
over the Chenab in Reasi district as a basket attached to a crane carrying them
unhooked and fell from a height of more than 100 metres.

24. Current Status
• The USBRL project is divided into four sections:
• Leg 0 extending 53 kilometres (33 mi) from Jammu to Udhampur,
completed in April 2005.
• Leg 1 extending 25 kilometres (16 mi) from Udhampur to Katra.
Under construction, may open in 2013
• Leg 2 extending 148 kilometres (92 mi) from Katra to Qazigund.
Under construction, may open in 2017
• Leg 3 extending 119 kilometres (74 mi) from Qazigund to
Baramulla, completed in October 2009.

25. Inauguration of Kashmir rail link
Date Section Length, km
April 2005 Jammu - Udhampur Current Status
53
October 2008 Anantnag - Mazhom 66
February 2009 Mazhom - Baramulla 35
October 2009 Quazigund - Anantnag 18
Delayed owing to
construction difficulties
Udhampur - Quazigund 167