In a remarkable development, India has completed the building of world's first-ever electrified rail tunnel which is capable of running double-stack container trains through its passage, reports Times of India.
Located on the Rewari-Dadri section of the under-construction Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC), the one kilometre-long tunnel located in the Aravali rocky mountains in Sohna has been built in a short span of lesser than a year despite the disruption caused by COVID-19 pandemic.
Once operations begin, double-stack container freight trains with as much as 25-tonne axle load will be seen zooming through the tunnel at speeds of 100 kilometres per hour (kmph). The tunnel connects Mewat and Gurugram in Haryana, negotiating a steep gradient.
From the geological perspective, the tunnel has been deemed as safe and stable as it has been caved through 250 to 500 million-years-old proterozoic rocks which are known to have high bearing capacities.
The WDFC and the Eastern DFC are the two mammoth projects which are being pursued by the Indian Railways in a bid to transform the freight transportation in the nation. Railways aim to operationalise both the DFCs by the end of 2021.
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