Prime Minister Modi has opened the world's longest highway cavern

Hemarangan S
2 minute read
Prime Minister Modi has opened the world's longest highway cavern

Oct 03, 2020

Described as the longest highway cavern in the world, Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the Atal mine in Himachal Pradesh and dedicated it to the nation.

When Vajpayee was prime minister in 2000, the Rohtang mine was planned and laid in 2002. Named the Atal Tunnel in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated the project, which has been completed. Defense Minister Rajnath Singh was among those present.

The Atal Tunnel is located on the Leh-Manali Highway in the Birpanchal Range in Himachal Pradesh, at an elevation of 10,171 feet above sea level.

The cave, which connects Manali to Himachal Pradesh and the Logal-Spiti valley, is built over a hill. The 9 km long and 10 m wide tunnel will reduce the travel distance between Manali and Lay to 46 km and the travel time between Manali and Lay to 4 to 5 hours.

The two-lane tunnel is in the form of a horseshoe in a single pipe system. 3 thousand cars per day, 1500 trucks can go up to 80 kilometers per hour.

The mine is equipped with state-of-the-art security facilities including CCTV cameras, telephone connections at intervals of 150 meters, fire extinguishing systems at intervals of 60 meters, emergency exit route, traffic level, speed of vehicles and auto incident detection system to prevent traffic congestion.

Stating that their main task is to protect the country, Prime Minister Modi said that the roads and bridges along the border would benefit the people and the army. In Himachal Pradesh, Modi visited the Atal mine, which has been set up at an estimated cost of Rs 3,300 crore, and traveled by car on the road.

Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister said that the work on the mine, which was laid in 2002, had progressed at a snail's pace and by 2014 only 1300 meters had been laid. He noted that if the work had been done at this pace, the work would have been completed by 2040, adding that the work, which should have taken 26 years, would have been completed in 6 years.
Hemarangan S