On 21 April 2025 Larsen & Toubro broke through in India’s longest railway tunnel. It is the 14.57 km tunnel n. 8  between Devprayag and Janasu in Uttarakhand part of the 125-km Rishikesh-Karnaprayag Broad Gauge Rail Link Project of Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL): click here for the video.   

The breakthrough of the first tube was achieved using a Herrenknecht Single-Shield TBM named Shakti ( 9.11m diameter, 140 m length, 1900 t weight) which is also the largest TBM to be deployed in the Himalayan region. Excavating at an average rate of 413 m per month, 10.4 km of the tunnel was completed with TBM. The New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) was used to complete the remaining 4.11 km of the tunnel. The second machine, involved in the excavation of the second tube,  is still progressing steadily toward its breakthrough. 

L&T’s role in the Char Dham Yatra, covers Packages 2 and 4. The  125-km Rishikesh-Karnaprayag Railway Line project which connects Rishikesh, Devprayag, Srinagar, Rudraprayag, Gauchar, and Karnaprayag across five Himalayan districts, will cut travel time from seven hours to two.  

In Package 4, L&T is building India’s longest railway tunnel (14.5-km upline, 13.1-km downline). Package 2 includes 26.6 km of tunnel excavation, 28 km of tunnel lining, two railway bridges, one road bridge, and embankments. For further information click here and in/76 for the tunnelbuilder archive. Visit https://www.larsentoubro.com/. 17/25.