India's first underwater road-cum-rail tunnels to be built in Assam, details here

Railway Ministry and Road Transport Ministry along with the Border Road Organisation (BRO) are planning to construct the country's first underwater road-cum-rail tunnels across Brahmaputra river in Assam at an estimated cost of Rs 7,000 crore. The project will constitute of three parallel tunnels, one for the road, another for rail and the third one for emergency use.

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The tunnels will be of 9.8 kilometres each and this will be the first project where integrated tunnel construction will be undertaken. These tunnels will be inter-connected with cross passage for evacuation in case of any emergency. It can be used for both civilian and strategic purposes.

The multi-modal transportation system aims to integrate the rail and highway network through the Jamurihat-Silghat axis towards North Assam, Tawang and the rest of Arunachal Pradesh. The tunnel will take off from about 9 km upstream of the existing Kaliabomara (Tezpur) road bridge and it will connect Jakhlabandha railway station on the south bank and at Dhaliabil railway station on the north bank of Brahmaputra.

The proposed tunnels will be constructed using tunnel boring machines and may take around two to two-and-a-half years to complete. This will reduce travel time between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Currently, there are five bridges across the Brahmaputra.