DFCCIL creates world’s 1st electrified rail tunnel in less than a year

A tunnel-breaking ceremony was held on July 24 on completion of caving work for the one-kilometre long tunnel of Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) through Aravalli mountain range, near Sohna in Haryana. This will be the world’s first electrified rail tunnel fit to run double-stack containers. This work of tunnel has been completed in record less than a year time. Work started on this site last year. The last blasting of the tunnel which is situated on the Rewari-Dadri section was done on July 24. While speaking to ANI, the Managing Director (Infrastructure) of Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL), Anurag Kumar Sachan said, “We began the work of this tunnel around one year back. Today, we have done last blast of this tunnel and the work is almost complete here.” “The entire section in the tunnel will be electrified due to which we have increased the height of the tunnel,” he added. Geologically, the tunnel is safe and stable as it is caved through 2,500 to 500 million-year-old proterozoic rocks mainly quartzite, schists and slates of Alwar/Azabgarh groups of Delhi supergroup rocks which have a high bearing capacity. Double stack containers and 25-ton axle load freight trains will run through this tunnel at a speed of 100 kmph. The tunnel connects Mewat and Gurugram district of Haryana and negotiates a steep gradient on the uphill and downhill slope of the Aravalli range. The D-shaped tunnel has a cross-sectional area of 150 square metres to accommodate double line with higher OHE (Over Head Equipment) to enable double-stack container movement on WDFC. Cross-sectional area-wise, it is one of the biggest Railway tunnels in India. One end of the tunnel is near Rewari and is called Portal-1 or west portal while the other end of the tunnel at Dadri is designated as Portal-2 or east portal. There are a total of six tunnels in both the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors. In WDFC, there are the one-kilometre long Sohna Tunnel, the 320 metres long Vasai Detour North Tunnel and the 430 metres long Vasai Detour South Tunnel. Likewise, the EDFC also has three tunnels measuring 150 metres, 475 metres and 300 metres respectively, in the Sonnagar Gomoh section. The DFCCIL has run more than 1,600 trains in the Bhadan-Khurja section of EDFC and the Madar-Rewari section of WDFC till date. 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 is slated for completion in June 2022. A tunnel-breaking ceremony was held on July 24 on completion of caving work for the one-kilometre long tunnel of Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) through Aravalli mountain range, near Sohna in Haryana. This will be the world’s first electrified rail tunnel fit to run double-stack containers. This work of tunnel has been completed in record less than a year time. Work started on this site last year. The last blasting of the tunnel which is situated on the Rewari-Dadri section was done on July 24. While speaking to ANI, the Managing Director (Infrastructure) of Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL), Anurag Kumar Sachan said, “We began the work of this tunnel around one year back. Today, we have done last blast of this tunnel and the work is almost complete here.” “The entire section in the tunnel will be electrified due to which we have increased the height of the tunnel,” he added. Geologically, the tunnel is safe and stable as it is caved through 2,500 to 500 million-year-old proterozoic rocks mainly quartzite, schists and slates of Alwar/Azabgarh groups of Delhi supergroup rocks which have a high bearing capacity. Double stack containers and 25-ton axle load freight trains will run through this tunnel at a speed of 100 kmph. The tunnel connects Mewat and Gurugram district of Haryana and negotiates a steep gradient on the uphill and downhill slope of the Aravalli range. The D-shaped tunnel has a cross-sectional area of 150 square metres to accommodate double line with higher OHE (Over Head Equipment) to enable double-stack container movement on WDFC. Cross-sectional area-wise, it is one of the biggest Railway tunnels in India. One end of the tunnel is near Rewari and is called Portal-1 or west portal while the other end of the tunnel at Dadri is designated as Portal-2 or east portal. There are a total of six tunnels in both the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors. In WDFC, there are the one-kilometre long Sohna Tunnel, the 320 metres long Vasai Detour North Tunnel and the 430 metres long Vasai Detour South Tunnel. Likewise, the EDFC also has three tunnels measuring 150 metres, 475 metres and 300 metres respectively, in the Sonnagar Gomoh section. The DFCCIL has run more than 1,600 trains in the Bhadan-Khurja section of EDFC and the Madar-Rewari section of WDFC till date. 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 is slated for completion in June 2022.