Highlight:
- Indian Railways building world’s first electrified tunnel to run double-stack containers
- The tunnel will be India’s biggest railways tunnel in terms of cross-section area
- The double-stack container goods trains will be able to attain the speed of over 100 KMPH in the tunnel
The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited or DFCCIL, recently held a tunnel-breaking ceremony on Friday on the completion of vcaving work for the one-kilometre long tunnel of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) via the Aravalli Mountain Range, near Sohna in Haryana.
The tunnel will connect Mewat and Gurugram districts of Haryana and covers a steep gradient on the downhill and uphill slopes of the Aravalli Range.
The D-shaped tunnel will have a cross-sectional area of 150 sq metres which accommodate double line with the higher OHE (Over Head Equipment) to make sure the double-stack container movement on WDFC is enabled.
The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL), in a statement, said, “Tunnel-breaking ceremony marks the completion of the tunnel caving work at the WDFC’s (Western Dedicated Freight Corridor) one-km-long tunnel through the Aravallis near Sohna in Haryana,”.
The statement also said, “This will be the world’s first electrified rail tunnel fit to run double-stack containers. The last blasting of the tunnel, which is situated on the Rewari-Dadri section, was done today (Friday). This work has been completed in less than a year’s time,”.
A spokesperson said that the organisation is working to complete the project in the “next 12 months”.
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This tunnel will be the biggest railway tunnel in India when considered the cross-sectional area. At the end of the tunnel will be Rewari and is being called Portal-1 or the West Portal and the other end of the tunnel will open at Dadri which is designated as Portal-2 or the East Portal.
The dimensions of the Double line electrified track for the double-stack goods train movement will be 14.5 metres and 10.5 metres height in straight portions, 13 metres wide and 12.5 metres height to give the extra clearance while navigating through the curves.
DFCCIL, in the statement, said, “Tunnelling work has been done systematically and in a planned manner from both the ends by deploying high-tech man and machinery. This is the reason behind completing the caving work in a record one-year time,”.
In both Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight there are a total of 6 tunnels. In WDFC, there are:
- 1 km long Sohna Tunnel
- 320 metres long Vasai Detour North Tunnel
- 430 metres long Vasai Detour South Tunnel
In the EDFC there are 3 tunnels as well which are in the SonnagarGomoh Section, the length of these tunnels are:
- 150 metres
- 475 metres
- 300 metres
A report said, “DFCCIL has run more than 1600 trains in the Bhadan-Khurja section of EDFC and the Madar – Rewari section of WDFC till date.” It added that “Despite the Coronavirus pandemic situation, work is progressing at a fast and resolute pace in DFCCIL. The Eastern (excluding the PPP section) and Western DFC are slated for completion in June 2022.”
Geologically, the 1 kilometre tunnel is both stable and safe as it is caved through 250 to 500 million year old Proterozoic Rocks, mainly Quartzite, Schists, and Slates, of Always/ Azabgarh groups of Delhi Supergroups rocks which are known for their high load bearing capacity.
Double-stack containers and 25-ton axle load goods trains will use this tunnel where the trains will be able to reach the speed of more than 100 KMPH.
