Schwing Stetter India, a 100% subsidiary of the Schwing Group of companies GMBH, is partnering Afcons in the making of Himalayan tunnel, hailed as an engineering wonder

The Udhampur – Srinagar – Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL), a project of railway line in Kashmir, is the biggest project in the construction of a mountain railway since independence. From Jammu to Baramulla, length of the new rail line is 345 km. Afcons has bagged three major segments of Project T – 74 R , Project T – 74 R B (South Portal), Project T – 49 B of the USBRL project.

Construction company

Today, Afcons Infrastructure Limited, a part of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, is one of the major construction companies in India having presence in various parts of the world. Afcons selected Schwing Stetter India to be its partner in concreting the Himalayan tunnels.
Machine supplierSchwing Stetter India, a 100 per cent subsidiary of the Schwing Group of companies GMBH, is one of the pioneers in manufacturing equipment for concrete preparation, placement, transportation and recycling. Concrete mixers, concrete batching plants, concrete pumps, concrete placer boom, mobile concrete conveyor, shotcreting machines, recycling plants, water chilling plant, and weigh bridges are the company’s well-established products in the market for the past 18 years. Self-loading mixers and sludge pumps are its newer range of equipment that have been launched recently. It caters to infrastructure developers and also acts as an OEM supplier to various cement companies who offer ready mix concrete.

Schwing Stetter also provides after sales, spares and services for its products. In India, it has 26 sales and spares offices, 9 service centres, and 18 spares centres.

Project details

The Pir Panjal Tunnel or the Banihal railway tunnel is an 11,215 metres (36,795 ft) long railway tunnel at the Pir Panjal Range of Himalayas in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The 11.215 km long (7 miles) Banihal railway tunnel will be India’s longest railway tunnel and Asia’s second longest railway tunnel. It is located in the North of the town of Banihal. The great tunnel is located on the highest mountain pass on the Eastern Pir Panjal range in middle of Himalayas.

This project perhaps, is the most difficult railway line undertaken in the Indian subcontinent. The terrain passes through the Himalayas, which are full of geological surprises and numerous problems. This project has been subdivided into 3 sections – Udhampur – Katra,  Katra – Quazigund and Quazigund – Srinagar – Baramulla.

Out of these three, Katra – Quazigund leg is considered to be the most difficult stretch of this project. The alignment of this stretch which is 129-km long, passes through Patnitop and Pir Panjal ranges. In Katra – Qazigund leg, the greatest engineering challenges involve in  crossing of the Chenab river, which involves building a 1,315-metre (4,314-ft) long bridge at 359-metre (1,178-ft) above the river bed and crossing of the Anji Khad, which involves building another 657-metre (2,156-ft) long bridge at 186-metre (610-ft) above the river bed. The Chenab Bridge will be the highest railway structure of its kind in the world, 35-metre higher than the tip of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Both bridges are to be span bridges. Currently, construction work is in progress in Banihal – Katra section. In construction of Banihal – Katra section, Afcons has bagged three major segments of Project T – 74 R , Project T – 74 R B (South Portal), and Project T – 49 B wherein Schwing Stetter India equipment are in use at these projects (Table 1). The schedule T 49 B is divided into three locations such as Hingni, Kundan and Arpinchla.

Conclusion

According to Schwing Stetter, “The progress of concrete production, placing without any hiccoughs has helped the project to progress as per the schedule. The process and the machines also consumed relatively lower energy and parts to achieve these results.” The Pir Panjal Railway tunnel is expected to be completed by 2019.