Rome, 12 March 2025
One of the most complex engineering feats on the planet, involving the construction of a total of 125 km of new railway line along the Himalayan mountain system in India.
Italferr, an engineering company of the FS Group, in a joint venture with Swiss company Lombardi, is carrying out the complex design and project management consulting activities for the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag railway line.
A project carried out for the RVNL, Rail Vikas Nigam (the railways of India), which sees the simultaneous demolition of two diaphragms as a significant milestone in the advancement of the work. The ultimate goal is the construction of a new railway line in the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand. A link which runs predominantly underground (105 km in 17 tunnels), parallel to the riverbed of the Ganges and with the construction of 13 stations.
The entire construction of the line is divided into a total of ten lots, of which numbers 1 and 8 were awarded to the JV with Italferr as parent company.
In particular, Package 1 includes 12 km of line, including a tunnel of approximately 11 km and a station at Shivpuri, while Package 8 includes two tunnels, respectively 6.6 km and 7.1 km, built entirely with traditional excavation methods, and two stations at Golthir and Gauchar.
Activities continue at full speed as shown by the milestones achieved in March 2025 on both packages. In particular, on Package 1 the section of the Escape Tunnel from the Adit (intermediate tunnel serving the excavation) to Portal P2 was completed. Excavation work began in May 2021.
On Package 8, the entire excavation of the Main Tunnel, which began in 2022, was completed, with a total length of more than 7 km and an excavation diameter of almost 9 m.
The new railway line is not just a transport initiative, but confirms Italferr's commitment to innovation and resilience in one of the most difficult geographical and environmental contexts on the planet, paving the way for a crucial rail link that will improve mobility and connectivity in the region.