Examine the challenges of building transport infrastructure in the Himalayas, and suggest measures for disaster-resilient design.

The Himalayas are young fold mountains with fragile rock, high seismicity and harsh winters. Building transport there is among India's hardest engineering tasks. The Udhampur–Srinagar–Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL), called one of India's most challenging railway projects since independence [1], shows both the difficulty and that resilient design is possible.

Challenges

• Fragile geology: tunnelling meets weak, water-bearing rock. Tunnel T50 had to overcome high water ingress [1]. The Silkyara tunnel collapse (Uttarakhand, November 2023) showed how dangerous this can be [6].
• Multi-hazard exposure: the region is a high-risk seismic zone, and avalanches, heavy snowfall and landslides often close roads [3].
• Rugged terrain: deep gorges forced the 272-km USBRL to use 36 tunnels and 943 bridges [1].
• Time and cost overruns: USBRL was sanctioned in 1994-95, and its anticipated cost was ₹37,012 crore in 2022 [5]. The final cost was ₹43,780 crore [1]. The Zojila tunnel's completion is cited as 2026 [4] in one release and 2028 [3] in another.
• Safety-governance gaps: the final report of the Silkyara investigation committee had not been received when the government replied in Parliament [7]. Escape tunnels "can be considered" but are not mandatory [8].
• Ecological stress: slope cutting and muck dumping can destabilise hillsides and raise landslide risk.

Measures for disaster-resilient design

• Hazard-specific engineering: the Chenab bridge is engineered to withstand extreme wind and seismic forces. T50 used the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM), which adjusts tunnel support to the rock conditions [2].
• Mandatory escape routes: make the IRC SP:91-2019 service-tunnel provision binding for long tunnels [8].
• Independent safety audits: apply the NHAI audit of 29 tunnels and the Konkan Railway design-review model [6] to every Himalayan tunnel, including Zojila. Publish the Silkyara findings [7].
• Hazard-avoiding alignments: use tunnels to bypass avalanche zones, as the Sonamarg tunnel does [3].
• Resilient operations: seismic dampers on trains and a lead snow-removal train [1].
• Realistic project planning: detailed geological surveys before costing, plus public completion reports to limit overruns [5].
• Ecological safeguards: slope stabilisation, scientific muck disposal and continuous landslide monitoring.

Survey → Hazard-specific design → Independent audit → Escape routes → Monitored operation

Figure: Resilience across the project life-cycle

The Himalayan terrain is a hard constraint, but USBRL and Sonamarg show that engineering can overcome it. The lesson is to build resilience in at the design stage instead of adding it after a disaster. This approach, in line with SDG 9 (resilient infrastructure) and the Sendai Framework, can make Himalayan connectivity safe as well as strategic.