The global technology company, Siemens has partnered with and implemented the latest tunnel automation and digital technologies in the prestigious Atal Tunnel project. Siemens’ technologies provide electrification, automation and digitalisation solutions for local and remote monitoring, connectivity, lighting, ventilation, power distribution and fire safety systems within one of the world’s longest and highest altitude tunnels.
The total length of the tunnel located at Rohtang Pass in the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh is 9.02 km and is at an elevation of 3,100 meters (10,000 feet), which makes it the world’s longest at this altitude.
Sunil Mathur, Managing Director & CEO, Siemens Ltd, said, “We would like to congratulate the government on this achievement. Siemens is indeed proud to be associated with such a historic and high-technology project, which is not only essential to enhancing the movement of people and goods across long distances but is also a critical security requirement. Siemens installed its latest technologies here to ensure that the electrical, ventilation and fire safety systems can be deployed and continuously monitored in a completely reliable and safe manner under the most challenging environmental conditions, a first-of-its-kind worldwide.”
This highway tunnel has been built under the Rohtang Pass in the eastern Pir Panjal of the Himalayas on the Leh-Manali Highway. One of the longest road tunnels in India, it is expected to reduce the distance between Manali and Leh by 46 km and travel time by four to six hours.
Once formally operational, the tunnel will make Leh – the capital of the union territory of Ladakh – accessible from the rest of the country throughout the entire year by road.
The strategic tunnel, which has been named after the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his brief visit to Himachal Pradesh on October 3.