Jammu,  In a major development, the Northern Railway has achieved break through in the escape tunnel in its Kashmir rail link project, officials said.

The construction work on the nearly-10km-long escape tunnel between Sumber and Sangaldan station in the Katra-Banihal section of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL), a national project in Jammu and Kashmir, was completed on July 26.

General Manager, Northern Railway, Ashutosh Gangal said: "We have achieved a major milestone in the USBRL project by executing the break-through of the escape tunnel T-48 between Sumber and Sangaldan station."

The line and level of the escape tunnel is precisely achieved in break-through. T-48 is an escape tunnel of length 9.694 km and 5.30 metre wide in a modified horseshoe shape.

With a view to provide an alternative and a reliable transportation system to Jammu and Kashmir, the government had undertaken a 272 km long rail line from Udhampur to Baramulla joining the Kashmir valley with the railways network under the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project.

The alignment of USBRL involves construction of a large number of tunnels and bridges in highly rugged mountainous terrain with difficult and complex Himalayan geology.

The project involves 38 tunnels (combined length of 119 Km), the longest tunnel (T-49) is having a length of 12.75 km - and once completed, will be the country's longest transportation tunnel.

There are 927 bridges (combined length of 13 km). These bridges include the iconic 1,315 metre long Chenab Bridge with height of 359 metres above the river bed, which will be the highest railway bridge in the world.