Survey work complete for railway line for Gangotri-Yamunotri route

If everything goes according to plan then in the next 5 years pilgrims will be able to travel to Gangotri and Yamunotri by train. The final survey report has been prepared for laying the railway line. Ten railway stations will be built on the 121-km long line.

The railway line to be constructed in five years will cost 22 thousand crores. On Thursday, the final survey report was given to the Ministry of Railways and the Government of Uttarakhand. It took two years for Rail Vikas Nigam to make its DPR.

Proof checking was done from IIT Roorkee for this. A detailed geological survey was also conducted for the first time for a railway project in the Himalayan region. Project Development Manager of Rail Vikas Nigam, Om Prakash Malguri said that the 121.5 km long journey from Doiwala in Dehradun will be completed in just one and a half hours.

Along with the construction of 84 km tunnel in the rail line, 17 small and big bridges will also be built. The largest tunnel in this project will be 15 km long. He informed that work on the project will be started as soon as approval from the Ministry of Railways.

Construction work is going on on the Rishikesh-Karnprayag rail project under the Chardham Rail Circuit. The construction of the yoga city Rishikesh railway station has been completed before the project. It has been linked to Virbhadra and even the rail trial has been successful. Further, construction work of Shivpuri and Maletha railway stations is going on. Some tunnels and rail bridges are also under construction. Along with this, the good news is that under the Chardham Rail Circuit, the hope of connecting Gangotri and Yamunotri Dham to the rail line is beginning to look possible.

After completing the survey of several phases, the Rail Development Corporation has also prepared its DPR. The project manager of the corporation, Om Prakash Malguri, said that the 121.5 km long railway project will have a total of ten stations, starting from Doiwala and ending at Barkot in Uttarkashi. The station at Matli in Uttarkashi will be the largest nine line in the project. Whereas, Barkot station five line and for remaining eight stations three line are proposed.

Longest tunnel will be 15 km long

According to DPR of Rail Vikas Nigam, 17 small and large rail bridges will be built in the total length of the project (121.5 km). Apart from this, the railway line will cover 84.603 km distance within the tunnels. A total of 25 tunnels will be built in this project, of which the longest tunnel will be 15 km.

DPR prepared after two years of study

Project Development Manager of Rail Vikas Nigam, Om Prakash Malguri, said that it took two years to prepare this DPR. Proof checking has also been done by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee. The formation of the DPR was carried out in 386 km length of survey work, including geological and DGPS surveys and hydrological studies. Apart from this, remote sensing and satellite imagery has also been provided in 153 km length. He said that no such detailed geological survey has been carried out in any project till date in the Himalayan region. An opinion on the project has also been sought from the Uttarakhand government.