Indore-Khandwa gauge conversion project: 21 tunnels planned in 70-km stretch between Patalpani and Sanawad 

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): In all, 21 tunnels will be constructed in the 70-km stretch from Patalpani to Sanawad in the 140-km long Indore-Khandwa gauge conversion project.  

Ashok Kumar Mishra, general manager (GM) of Western Railway (WR) informed this here on Wednesday. He was on a one-day tour of the city along with the managing director of RITES, Rahul Mithal. Mishra and Mithal went on an inspection of the Indore-Khandwa gauge conversion project site close to Mhow. Later, they held a review meeting at the office of deputy chief engineer (Construction).  

‘We had given the final location survey of the Patalpani-Sanawad section of Indore-Khandwa GC project to RITES. It’s conducting a geographical survey for the construction of bridges and a survey of rocks. It will submit the final survey by August. We are also working on the tendering process. In all 21 tunnels have to be built between Patalpani and Sanawad. The tender of this work will be given to a separate agency, GM of WR Mishra said. 

Talking about Indore-Dahod and Dhar-Chhota Udepur new rail line project, GM Mishra said that we have asked RITES to conduct a fresh survey between Dhar and Jhabua as previous survey reports are too old. In the meantime, a national highway is also crossing the existing alignment and there is also some forest area close to Dhar that has to be cleared for the project. RITES is likely to submit the survey report in next one or two months. 

Mishra added that the water logging in the under-construction tunnel near Pithampur has been drained out and drilling machines have reached there. Now the construction work of this section would be faster.