The ambitious 125-km Rishikesh-Karnaprayag railway line in Uttarakhand has achieved a significant construction milestone with the completion of the 10.847-km Escape Tunnel 1 by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL).
The latest breakthrough takes the total number of tunnel breakthroughs on the project to 41, marking further progress on one of Uttarakhand’s most important infrastructure projects.
Escape Tunnel 1 is the second-longest tunnel on the railway project and was constructed through challenging Himalayan terrain. Engineers faced highly tectonised, folded and faulted rock formations, making excavation and construction particularly complex.
The Rishikesh-Karnaprayag railway line is being developed to strengthen rail connectivity in the mountainous regions of Uttarakhand. The project is expected to improve access to important destinations such as Devprayag and Karnaprayag, while also supporting connectivity to the Char Dham pilgrimage circuit and the wider national railway network.
The project continues to make steady progress despite difficult geological conditions. As of July 2026, around 101 km of main-line tunnelling had been completed, highlighting the scale of work already achieved on this strategically important railway corridor.
