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Dimapur, March 18 (EMN): Drilling of three tunnels for the Dimapur-Zubza railway line or new broad gauge line under the Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR) has been completed and work on tunnel-1 is currently underway.
This was found out during a spot visit by this newspaper to check the progress of the ambitious railway project, which is aimed at bringing railways to Nagaland’s capital Kohima.
To date, drilling work for three tunnels – tunnel-1A at Chümoukedima village; and tunnel-2 and tunnel-3 at New Chümoukedima – for the new Dimapur-Zubza railway line, covering 82.3 km from Dhansiri to Zubza, have been completed.
Speaking to Eastern Mirror, construction site engineer Pritam Baidya informed that they were currently working on tunnel-1, which is about 3.5 km located at Chümoukedima village.
Almost 900 metre for the tunnel has been drilled, he said, adding that work progress has been slowed down due to poor rock data as well as water seepage issues.
He informed that it would take around two years to complete tunnel-1.
Baidya informed that tunnel-1A is about 140 metre in length, tunnel-2 about 180 metre, and tunnel-3 about 866 metre.
He said that only reaming work for tunnel-3 has been completed and concrete lining of the tunnel is expected to be completed this year.
Project manager Munu Malakar also informed this newspaper that in order to complete tunnel-1, they need to work on the other phase (from the other end), which has not started yet. He said that this was because the Railway department has not acquired the land due to land acquisition problems and that it completed the land division process only in December 2020.
Video of Dimapur-Zubza railway line:
When queried about the delay in completion of the tunnel for the Dimapur-Zubza railway line, Malakar said that it was due to natural calamities and some land issue, while the main reason was due to the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19 last year.
He added that even after lockdown was lifted, the labourers did not return for work on time. He said that the project could be completed within two years but it was also dependent on what was underneath the ground while drilling, ‘as they never know what issues they would face while excavating’.
The project manager added they could face seeping of water, loose rock and dangerous gases. He further stated that they had started the construction work only in December 2019. ‘It’s been only one year since the construction work started; moreover there was lockdown as well,’ he said.
Malakar informed that they were targeting to complete the project by December 2022, adding that the main work was underground excavation, which was pending for tunnel-1 and concrete lining for the remaining three tunnels.
He said that the set time frame for the completion of the project was December 2019 but the project started only in December 2019, therefore it was extended till December 2020 and further to December 2022 owing to the delay caused by various issues including the lockdown.
ABCI Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. is in charge of tunnel-1, tunnel-1A, tunnel-2 and tunnel-3 of the Dimapur-Zubza railway line while Bharatiya Infra project Ltd. is in charge of tunnel-4 and tunnel-5.
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