Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Saturday inaugurate Atal Tunnel- which is the longest highway tunnel in the world . The all-weather 9.02 km-long tunnel will cut down the distance between Leh and Manali by 46km and the travel time by four to five hours.
The tunnel is situated in Himachal Pradesh’s Rohtang.The Tunnel is built with ultra-modern specifications in the Pir Panjal range of Himalayas at an altitude of 3000 meters (10,000 Feet) from the Mean Sea Level (MSL).
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Here are things to know about the Atal Tunnel:
The South Portal (SP) of Atal Tunnel is located at a distance of 25 Km from Manali at an altitude of 3060 meters, while the North Portal (NP) of the tunnel is located near village Teling, Sissu, in Lahaul Valley at an altitude of 3071 meters.
It is horse shoe shaped, single tube double lane tunnel with a roadway of 8 Mtrs. It has an overhead clearance of 5.525 Mtrs.
It is 10.5-metre wide and has a 3.6 x 2.25 Mtrs fire proof emergency egress tunnel built into the main tunnel itself.
Atal Tunnel has been designed for traffic density of 3000 cars per day and 1500 trucks per day with max speed of 80 km/hr.
It has the state of the art electromechanical system including semi transverse ventilation system, SCADA controlled firefighting, illumination and monitoring system.
The Tunnel has safety features built into it. Some of the key safety features are:
(a) Tunnel entry barriers at both portals.
(b) Telephone connections at every 150 meters for emergency communication.
(c) Fire hydrant mechanisms at every 60 meters.
(d) Auto incident detection system with CCTV cameras at every 250 meters.
(e) Air quality monitoring at every 1 Km.
(f) Evacuation lighting / exit signs at every 25 meters.
(g) Broadcasting system throughout the tunnel.
(h) Fire rated Dampers at every 50 meters.
(i) Cameras at every 60 meters.
The decision to construct Atal Tunnel was taken on June 3, 2000, by the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The foundation stone for the tunnel was laid on May 26, 2002.
On 25 December 2019, the Rohtang tunnel was renamed as Atal Tunnel in the memory of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Atal Tunnel, which is the longest highway tunnel in the world, reduces the road distance by 46km between Manali and Leh and the travel time by about four to five hours.
There are evacuation lighting and exit signs at every 25 metres and broadcasting system throughout the stretch.
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