The construction of India’s longest twin railway tunnel between Devprayag and Janasu has been successfully completed as part of the ambitious Rishikesh-Karnaprayag rail line project. Equipped with advanced hydraulic cutting technology, two Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) achieved the feat of excavating parallel tunnels with a diameter of 6.5 meters each.
This engineering marvel is a major segment of the 125 km long Rishikesh-Karnaprayag railway line. Once fully operational, the rail line will drastically reduce travel time from the current 7–8 hours to just 2 hours. More importantly, it will directly connect five districts of Uttarakhand — Dehradun, Tehri, Pauri, Rudraprayag, and Chamoli — with the Indian Railways network for the first time.
The tunnel’s successful completion marks a key milestone in enhancing accessibility to the hill state and boosting connectivity to the Char Dham region, especially Kedarnath and Badrinath.
