The Railway Ministry and Road Transport Ministry, in collaboration with the Border Road Organization (BRO), are intending to build the country’s first-ever underwater road-cum-rail tunnels across the Brahmaputra River in Assam, at a cost of Rs 7,000 crore.
This project will build three parallel tunnels: one for road traffic, one for rail traffic, and one for emergency traffic.
The tunnels will be 9.8 kilometres long each, and this will be the first project to incorporate integrated tunnel construction.
The strategic multi-modal transportation system aims to connect the rail and highway networks in North Assam, Tawang, and the rest of Arunachal Pradesh via the Jamurihat-Silghat axis. This can be utilised for both civilian and military objectives.
According to estimates, the government’s entire expenditure on these tunnels will be roughly Rs 7,000 crore.
Previously, the Road Transport Ministry’s National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) had proposed the construction of twin tunnels particularly for vehicles, at an estimated cost of Rs 12,800 crore.
lowering travel time between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, the underwater tunnel project will be an engineering marvel that will benefit the country strategically.
Tunnel boring machines will be used to build the proposed tunnels, which might take two to two and a half years to complete once work begins.
