L&T Wins Rishikesh-Karnaprayag Rail Line’s Package 4

Larsen & Toubro today emerged as the lowest bidder for major tunneling work on the under construction 125 km Rishikesh-Karnaprayag railway line which will link both towns in Uttarakhand through 12 stations.

The 15.758 km Package 4 connects chainage 47.360 with 63.118 and will be constructed using at least two tunnel boring machines (TBM), with some NATM work involved. Besides a 15.1 km tunnel (number 8), it includes a 240m embankment for Devprayag Station, a 300m embankment at Janasu and one minor bridge.

Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) invited bids for this package in February 2020 with a 60 month (5 year) deadline, and opened technical bids on October 27 to reveal 4 bidders.

RVNL’s Estimate: Rs. 3853.48 crore

Financial Bid Values:

FirmBid
Larsen & ToubroRs. 3337.60 crore
GulermakRs. 3484.34 crore
Afcons InfrastructureRs. 3790.80 crore
Megha Engineering and Infrastructure (MEIL)Rs. 4019.93 crore

Contract: RVNL/RKSH-KNPG/Tender/Tunnels/ Pk-4

Brief Scope: Construction of tunnels , formation, construction shaft and other ancillary works from chain age 47 plus 360 to 63 plus 117 km with TBM and NATM under Package-4 in connection with new BG line between and Karanprayag in the state of Uttarakhand.

Route of Rishikesh – Karnprayag Rail Line – via RVNL (view large)

L&T’s bid of Rs. 3337.60 crore was well below RVNL’s estimate of Rs. 3853.48 crore, so they should be awarded Package 4’s tunneling contract in the coming weeks. Out of a total of 9 tunneling packages, if I’m not mistaken – this will be L&T’s second major win after Package 2 (chainage 33.097 to 18.601) which includes the project’s 6.46 km tunnel #2 and 6.72 km tunnel #3.

A consortium of TUMAS India Pvt. Ltd. – Altinok Musavirlik Muhenislik A.S (JV) is the detailed design consultant (DDC) for Package 4. Per their website:

Main tunnel is 15.757 km long and has 8.8 m inner diameters and 9.7 outer diameters. Escape tunnel is 15.757 km and has 5.0 m inner diameter and 5.7 m outer diameter. Both NATM and TBM drilling method options has been evaluated and TBM has been selected.The width of inlet portal of tunnel has been designed as 22.098 m, and the height of inlet portal has been designed as 13.00 m since the topographic conditions of alignment. The length of inlet portal is 183 m.

The Rishikesh – Karnprayag rail project is considered to be of national importance and is being tracked on the Central Government’s PRAGATI (Pro Active Governance and Timely Implementation) portal. When ready, it will help improve connectivity to the Char Dham shrines of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath in the Garhwal region of the Himalayas.

For more updates, check out my Home Page!

– TMRG

written by

Global traveler who prefers mass rapid transit

31 Responses to "L&T Wins Rishikesh-Karnaprayag Rail Line’s Package 4"

  1. Clevin Gomes says:

    It’s good to see that you are also covering other rail projects. In future, if Delhi-Dehradun HSR will start commercial services, then this railway line will act as a feeder Service for devotees of Char Dham Pilgrimage. TMRG, I’ve heard that Both Gujarat Govt. and Central Govt. Have approved the Ahmedabad-Rajkot High Speed Rail and it will be act as a branch of MAHSR. Is it True?

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      Thanks! I’m going to cover select big-ticket projects’ contracts as and when I hear something. Primary focus will still be on metros. 🙂

      Ahmedabad-Rajkot HSR was in the news for getting an ‘in-principle’ approval from the state government, which in the end means nothing. Its cabinet needs to formally approve the project. After that DPR will be sent to CG.

      Reply
  2. Vasu says:

    Its really nice to see you covered this project also, it would be wonderful if you make a page for this project describing all the packages. As, udhampur-katra-baramulla project gonna be finished in near future but after that delhi – leh railway project might catch some pace so do post regarding that also if possible.

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      Yup, will setup a new page. Not sure where to place it on the menu bar. Any ideas?

      Reply
      • Deepak says:

        You can make a page for ‘Himalaya Region Railway’ … Which will include projects from jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Uttrakhand,Himachal Pradesh, sikkim and seven sister states/ northeast

        Reply
      • Sanket says:

        You may think of having “Intra-city rail” which has a dropdown menu for metros, monorails, local trains etc. and “Intercity rail” which has the Himalayan section, HSR, SHSR, RRTS, DFT etc.. The name for Intracity can be kept as Metros for the time being..

        “Other” section can be added once you start the expressways, airports, bridges, etc..

        Also, for visual updates, you can have some YouTube vloggers as affiliates/partners, and use their on the ground videos for updates..

        Reply
      • Kanishka says:

        The page can be named as “Indian Railways Projects”..which can be placed on the menu bar alongside the ‘High Speed’

        Reply
  3. Hitesh says:

    Cover rob dhobi ghat bridge in Ghaziabad

    Reply
  4. Leo says:

    Really appreciate this kind of updates , if possible try to cover the rail projects happening in Kashmir and north east and some here and there updates regarding electrification of Indian railways . I know it will be difficult for you but still u can give it a try .

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      I’ll be covering only contracts for now, otherwise things will get unmanageable and hairy pretty quickly. I think folks on YouTube do a great job on visual updates.

      Reply
  5. Abhijit says:

    Really nice work. Also, you are doing a great job man. I would just say just gradually add more things. I don’t want you to get burned out.

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      Thanks for looking out! I’m just going to cover contract related developments and don’t think there’ll be more than 2-5/month. Primary focus will still be on metro/HSR 🙂

      Reply
  6. Jagdish Joshi says:

    Thank ful to metro rail guy,his favourite is underground as my.👍please keep update,

    Reply
  7. Praveen Sharma says:

    Great updates on the tender contracts. Could you please provide an update if the Sikkiim railway project moved any further? And also about the Meghalaya railway project. Regards

    Reply
  8. Sanket says:

    Thanks for such updates! Regarding this project, how many packages are there? And what are the statuses of those? Is there any table of details available for this project, like you have for some of the others?

    Reply
  9. Kanishka says:

    Questions:

    1. What’s the rationale of selecting TBM over NATM? Have enough bore-hole samples been taken that it can be ascertained with surety that TBM won’t encounter any hard rock over 15km length?

    2. Given TBMs are selected. What’s the daily tunneling rate being considered (OR what tunneling rate is practically possible in the Himalayan terrain)? So far, has any tunnel been bored in the Himalayas using TBM?
    One TBM running at 5m/day would take 3151 days (= 105 months = 8.75 Years) to bore 15.757kms. Two TBMs (one each from each end) running at 5m/day would take 1576 days (= 52.5 months = 4.4 Years)…that’s too without considering any mechanical downtime, repairs, maintenance of the TBM…What’s the targeted commissioning date/Year?

    3. Why is the inner diameter (ID) been selected as 8.8m? Isn’t it too big? Does IR select this ID for all its tunnels? What’s the Tunnel ID for DMRC’s broad-gauge lines (Red, Blue, Yellow)?

    4. The pic you have attached shows a serpentine alignment – which appears to be a misrepresentation. I believe the actual alignment would be much straighter (i.e. less no. of bends/curves). What’s the min. radius of curvature selected?

    5. Why is there an Escape tunnel? Aren’t we gold plating the entire project (thus delaying commissioning)? Recently, the safety(escape) tunnel of Zozila highway tunnel project has been scrapped – merely due to cost escalations.

    Even if the Escape Tunnel is a must from safety perspective, I think the project can be executed/commissioned much faster by excluding the escape tunnel initially – i.e., commission the main line (main tunnel) without the escape tunnel first and make the train operations as ‘weather/environment restricted’, until the time escape tunnel is commissioned (some years later). Later, once the escape tunnel is ready, the line becomes an ‘all-weather route’…

    6. What type of tracks selected for the project? – Tracks with Ballast? Or Ballastless (slab) tracks?

    7. What’s RVNL’s track record in executing mountain tunnel projects?

    8. What’s Altinok’s track record in India?

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      I don’t have specific date/info on most of the questions! Hopefully someone from the industry reading this can answer. You’re right on the alignment – expected to be a lot straighter. Delhi’s BG lines have a 6m internal diameter. For SG lines, it’s 5.8m.

      Reply
  10. Vikas sharma says:

    There is any opportunities for AutoCad operator in this project.

    Reply
  11. Mohd Adnan says:

    I have a 50 years experience I need h work

    Reply
  12. Dhiraj kumar says:

    Dhiraj kumar
    RMC BATCHING PLANT OPERATOR
    SS stetter MCI 70 300,360,370 IDS Ibath mega plus CP90,CP25 KYB conmat other softwarw Whatshop n. 9696904449
    Job exp. 15 year L&T+HCC
    Other Qualification- BA ,DCA, electronic

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply to TMRG Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *