By Admin 
Modi Cabinet today on Saturday (February 14) has approved the construction of rail and road tunnel between Gohpur and Numaligarh under the Brahmaputra river in Assam. With the construction of underwater twin tube road tunnel, the distance of 240 km will be reduced to only 34 km. A 15.8 km tunnel will be built under the Brahmaputra river.
A twin-tube underwater tunnel is going to be built for the first time in the country. There will be facility for running of both vehicles and trains in this tunnel. This will allow rapid movement of troops and ammunition in case of any emergency. One tube will have the facility of a single rail track.
How will the tunnel be designed?
According to experts, it will be designed in such a way that when trains pass through this tunnel, no vehicle will be able to run. It will have ballistic track and the trains will run on electricity. The entire 33.7 km project including tunnel, approach road and railway track will cost approximately Rs 18,600 crore. The expenses of this project will be jointly borne by the Road Transport, Railways and Defense Ministries.
A journey that takes hours will now take just a few minutes
Let us tell you that these tunnels, designed as two unidirectional tunnels with two lanes, will be built 32 meters below the deepest level of Brahmaputra. This project is expected to be completed in 5 years. After its construction, the travel time between Gohpur and Numaligarh will reduce from six and a half hours to just 34 minutes. With this the distance will reduce from 240 km to just 34 km.
Big gift to North East
After the construction of this underwater tunnel, connectivity with Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and other North East states will be better. Let us tell you that last year the Finance Ministry had given the green signal to the tunnel costing about Rs 14,900 crore with the provision of 80:20 funding by the Road Transport Ministry and the Defense Ministry.
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