After the significant progress in the completion of the rail line in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian Railways endeavours to extend the socio-economic benefits of rail transportation to other remote areas and challenging terrains of hill states where development is scarce.
Among the various socially desirable projects in the country, the Bilaspur-Mandi-leh Rail line constitutes great significance. The project is of both strategic, economic and tourism importance, with its unique distinction being the highest railway track in the world. The Minister for Railways, Mr Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, laid the foundation stone for the final location survey of the Bilaspur-Manali-leh New Broad Gauge line at leh on June 27.
leh being the most important town in ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir has approximately 1.5 lakh population. It has a high footfall of Indian and foreign tourists each year. In order to connect leh with a broad gauge railway line with the rest of the country, Indian Railways has taken up a final location survey, a precursor to actual construction from Bilaspur to leh via Manali. The alignment shall connect Mandi, Kullu, Manali, Keylong and other important towns of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir states enroute. The line from Bilaspur shall be further connected to Bhanupali between Anandpur Sahib and Nangal Dam.
The proposed alignment passes through the Shivalik, Great Himalayan and Zanskar Ranges, areas with wide variation in height (600 m to 5300 m above MSl) and seismic zone IV and V [IS:1893(Part-I)-2002], necessitating building of large number of tunnels, deep viaducts and bridges. Estimated cost is Rs 157 crore.