Soon, the world's highest railway line will take you to New Delhi to Leh Ladakh in just 20 hours - Indian Railways is building a rail line to Leh along India-China border. At the rail line's highest point, the tracks would be at 5,360 metres above sea level. Yes, you read it right - this proposed project will cost about Rs.83,360 crores and cut you short a time span of 20 hours! What else can you wish for?
The project is still in the pipeline and will be covering an estimated route of 465km. The cost of the first location survey in itself is around INR 400 plus lakhs. The railway track will include destinations like Sundernagar, Mandi, Manali, Keylong, Koksar, Darcha, Upshi and Karu en route to Leh-Ladakh. Be ready to get mesmerised on en route to Leh Ladakh as the scenary will leave you awestruck for sure. Explore the most scenic towns of Himachal Pradesh on your spellbinding train journey. The route is covered via several tunnels and has 30 stations in total.
Cutting down the journey time from 40 hours to 20 hours is definitely a sign of relief for travellers. That's not all, there is chance to bring down the travel duration by a few more hours with further progress in this project. The route will also have a keylong station which will be built inside a tunnel - Yes! It will be the first one in India, at a height of 3,000 metres. The longest tunnel that you'll encounter would be 27 km and the total length of the tunnels would be estimated around 244km. 3/4 of the journey would be covered through tunnels. The rail line will have 74 tunnels, 124 big bridges & 396 minor bridges. T
The construction will be completed in 3 phases - Firstly, digital evalutation of the elevation model, fixing a path for a better alignment and conducting a geographical survey for tunnels and bridges.
Talking about the progress of the project, the first phase is already complete. Keep your calm as this railway line will definitely give you an extravagant train journey experience. It has been declared as national project and also one of the most difficult one as it requires a construction over a 51 km stretch between Upshi and Leh. It will take approximately two years to complete this rail line construction. The rail line which will be connecting Bilaspur with Leh would emerge from Bhanu Palli railway station which is an area prone to landslides - which makes us realise how difficult it will be complete this construction at a level where oxygen reduces and temperature drops to sub-zero levels. The BJP MP from Leh Thupstan Chhewang has requested the Minister Of Railways through a written letter to acknowledge that station of this Ladakh Railway Project as a national project. This railway line will definitely boost tourism in Leh-Ladakh and will be a big achievement on government's end to complete this national project.
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FAQ
Q: How many stations does the entire route have?
A: 30 Stations in a 465km route
Q: Which are the destinations that are included on the route from Delhi to Ladakh?
A: Sundernagar, Mandi, Manali, Keylong, Koksar, Darcha, Upshi and Karu