India’s longest road tunnel built on the Jammu and Kashmir highway is all set to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.
The Chenani-Nashri tunnel spans 9.28 kilometres and is expected to cut travel time from Jammu to Srinagar by at least two hours.
Billed as an engineering marvel, the twin-tube tunnel will be operational during winters.
But it’s not only the length that’s being talked about. The state-of-the-art tunnel boasts of an integrated tunnel control system which will control communication, ventilation, video surveillance and an FM signal repeater among other things.
Built on the lower Himalayan range at height of 1,200 metres, the tunnel has been constructed at a cost of Rs 3,720 crore.
(With inputs from Junaid Syed Hashmi in Kashmir.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)