India News: When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flags off a train to Qazigund on Tuesday from Banihal in Jammu that will travel through the 11km Pir Panjal tunnel, the Kashmir valley will be just a step away from being fully linked to India's extensive railway network.<br />For Ijaz Bhat, who has laboured with at least 1,300 workers and 150 engineers to build the country's longest railway tunnel, it will be a moment of pride. "For me this is the best," Bhat says, though he knows there's a longer rail tunnel in China.<br /><br />Built at a cost of Rs.1,300 crore, the T-80 tunnel will provide a second, all-weather link to the Kashmir Valley, which often becomes inaccessible in winter when the road through the 60-year-old Jawahar tunnel is blocked because of snow.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Subscribe to our channel for IDM Free Download
