Peeps! If travelling to Ladakh has been on your mind since some time now, this news is something which would surely delight you. Indian Railways is planning to connect New Delhi with the Ladakh region through the world’s highest railway line which would be across the Indo-China border.
The Bilaspur-Manali-Leh line would be built across the Indo-China border and according to PTI reports the location survey of the first phase is already complete. This railway line is surely going to come as a boost for the tourism sector in the Ladakh region which is currently connected only by road and air. Since the roads on this route are heavily disturbed because of heavy snowfall and bad weather, the rail route is expected to solve transportation problems for tourists who love Leh tours during winters.
The estimated cost to build this 465 kms line would be Rs 83,360 crore and the project would include 74 tunnels, 124 major bridges, 396 minor bridges and 30 stations on the line. Keylong station which would be built inside a tunnel at a height of 3000 meters would be the first in India and it is being said that more than half of the train route would be covered through tunnels; the longest tunnel would be 27 kms long.
The route will be connecting some of the important locations between Bilaspur and Leh like Sundernagar, Mandi, Manali, Keylong, Koksar, Darcha, Upshi and Karu apart from some of the other important towns of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
Once the line is finished the total duration of 40 hours from Delhi to Ladakh would be cut down to only twenty hours which is a major boost for all the travellers who are in the rush of time. It is said that the rail line would be having the highest road point of 5,360 metres above sea level which can Qinghai-Tibet Railway Line in China, which is at a height of approximately 2000 meters.