Traffic trial in Banihal tunnel successful

Banihal/Jammu, June 17

The two-hour-long first trial run of vehicular traffic through the double-tube four lane Banihal-Qazigund tunnel along the 270-km Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was conducted successfully, officials said on Thursday. The 8.5-km-long tunnel, built at the cost of Rs 2,100 crore in 10 years, is at present going through the testing and commissioning process and is likely to become operational in coming weeks, they said.

It will bypass the Jawahar Tunnel and Shaitan Nalla, which is prone to heavy snowfall and slippery conditions during winters and results in a bottleneck in the strategically important road linking Kashmir to the rest of the country.

“The first trial run from both sides was conducted successfully from 4 pm to 6 pm on Wednesday,” Muneeb Tak, Chief Manager of Navayuga Engineering Company, which began working on the tunnel in June 2011, said.

It would reduce the distance between Banihal in Jammu and Qazigund in Kashmir by 16 km. — PTI