Two rail tunnel projects to open soon
Mumbai will soon witness the emergence of new rail tunnels for two separate multi-crore railway projects. This includes the Kalwa-Mumbra tunnel project, which was carried out during the 18-hours block on Sunday.
On December 21, one of the longest rail tunnels will be carved open after using explosives. To begin with, the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) is making progress to catch up with its June 2022 deadline. For this, one of the major works which is drilling a hole in the Western Ghats has reached its final stages and would be cut open on December 21.
According to officials from Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL), they will be using several kilograms of explosives that shall be detonated and tunnel-breakthrough shall be achieved on Tuesday.
“This is a big milestone as such an important work of creating tunnels after exploding and cutting a mountain hasn’t been done for decades now. We will be documenting it by using drones,” said a DFCCIL official.
There are two tunnels of 430 meters and 320 meters each with a height and breadth of 8-10 meters that have been dug.
Sources said that till Dadri there won't be another tunnel after the upcoming one on the Vasai-Virar stretch. They will achieve a breakthrough on the 320-meters long one while the other tunnel is already ready.
Post this, another major work of launching girders on Ulhas River for the DFC corridor would commence.
At present, there is infringement from buildings and slums on a few kilometres that need to be cleared for this project. Once done, the track laying on the 100-km long route is expected to begin from March next year.
Likewise, as part of the ThaneDiva 5-6 rail lines, cut and connect to the new rail tunnel is underway on Sunday in an 18hour mega block.
After the block, the suburban trains on the down slow line from Kalwa to Mumbra will be running on the new alignment from electric pole 36/21 to 38/7 and via new tunnel number 1 for a length of approximately 1.6 km from December 20.