Indian Railways is significantly contributing towards transformation of the North-eastern states by executing several new railway line projects. The Jiribam – Imphal new line railway project is one of the crucial connectivity projects for the North-eastern region that is at an advance stage of completion. The works for this new line railway project, among other connectivity projects, is also going on in full swing to connect Imphal, the capital city of Manipur to the rest of the country.
Construction of the Jiribam – Imphal new line railway project is of about 110 km length. It involves multiple tunnels and bridges in tough terrains. Out of 52 tunnels, tunnel no. 12 is the longest tunnel of this project. It is having total length 10.275 km including 529 metre RCC Ramp with a parallel safety tunnel of length 8.30 km. Tunnel no. 12 is passing through the most complex geological condition having fragile soil type condition. Tunnelling work in this stretch is one of the most challenging jobs and N. F. Railway is putting their full effort by working 24X7 for the completion of work with all the challenges like heavy rainfall and other logistic hindrances. The vertical shaft construction technology has been adopted for the first time in N. F. Railway history, for these complex tunnelling works. Normally this technology is used only in the Metro Projects. Considering the complex geological condition of Imphal valley and to reduce the construction time of balance tunnelling stretch, vertical shafts are being constructed. This will help in expediting the progress of the tunnel work. All the tunnelling activities will be done through vertical shaft with the help of Gantry Crane and other modern machineries.
N.F. Railway has been consistently achieving success in the execution of infrastructure marvels in the most challenging area of North-eastern States. The Railway has taken up tunnelling work in a big way with successful completion of High altitude and Mountainous tunnels in Jiribam – Imphal Project.