Engineering marvel: Mizoram's Bairabi–Sairang rail link features 32 tunnels, 55 bridges
The railway line was constructed at a cost of Rs 800 crore.
The Railways are also conducting a survey to examine the feasibility of extending the track right up to the international border with Myanmar.
Guwahati, July 10: The Central Government’s scheme to connect all the states of the North East region resulted in an engineering marvel as during the laying of the track between Bairobi to Sairang in Mizoram, multiple challenges had to be taken care of and for the first time in this region, the ballastless track was constructed inside the tunnels.
Railway sources told The Assam Tribune that in the track length of 51.8 km, there are as many as 32 tunnels covering a distance of 15.8 km and around 55 bridges covering a distance of 5.9 km. In no other railway lines, so many tunnels and bridges had to be constructed within such a short distance. It had to be done because of the terrain involved.
Sources said that the bridges had to be constructed to connect hillocks in the area and the tallest bridge is 104 meters high, which is near Sairang Railway station. It was constructed to connect two hilltops.
The railway line was constructed at a cost of Rs 800 crore. For the first time in this region, ballast-free tracks were constructed within the tunnels. Sources said that such tracks are maintenance-free for at least a hundred years and those can be washed easily if required.
Replying to a question why so many tunnels were constructed, sources said that the Railways learnt the lesson from the Lumding-Silchar track, which is affected frequently by landslides. That track is often affected because hills were cut to construct the new broad gauge track. But in the case of the new track, instead of cutting the sides of the hills, tunnels were constructed and in other cases bridges were constructed to connect the hilltops.
There will be three stations in addition to the main ones. The Railways also constructed roads from the National Highways to the stations to transport men and material and those roads will be useful for the citizens. The foundation stone of the track was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 and it was completed only recently.
The Railways are also conducting a survey to examine the feasibility of extending the track right up to the international border with Myanmar.