Don’t hold your breath for completion of Udaipur-Ahmedabad broad-gauge anytime soon. While the Railway officials have been claiming that the broad-gauge line will be up and running by 2019, completion of this line looks likely only in 2020.

Tender for the biggest tunnel in the route, the Kharwa Chanda-Zawar mines tunnel was only released last week. Tender bids for the 800 mtr long tunnel will be opened on 28-June. As per the railway sources, tunnel digging is expected to start in December 2018 and will take about 2 years for completion.

The 800 mtr long tunnel will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 46 Cr. The land for this has been provided by Forest department.

Tunnel will be dug using traditional blasting instead of using latest technology. Blasting process is fairly time consuming.

Also, work is still pending at different segments along the Udaipur-Himmatnagar segment. Earth work is also pending at certain locations. Under such circumstances, it is likely that the work will only be completed in 2020.