“We had referred the matter to an Austrian consultant, the Geo Consult, who have now advised us to divert this tunnel. As it is, the cost of repairing the tunnel works out to be the same as that of constructing a new one. Since the Maximum Moving Dimensions (MMD) of a train are fixed, we cannot

take a chance, and have decided to divert this tunnel,” Gupta said.

A second tunnel on the route, Tunnel T-3, which passes through an underground water channel, too, has presented difficulties. Railway engineers, however, say T-3 is much more “structurally safe” than T-1.

Senior officials who did not want to be named said the situation is a direct fallout of the Railways’s short-sightedness and underestimation of the geographical and geological challenges the terrain presents.

“An Expert Committee is already examining the re-alignment of the Katra-Qazigund section where the Railways are mulling abandoning works worth Rs 750 crore. The fact that the line up to Katra, geographically less challenging than Katra-Qazigund, has the Railways on the backfoot and is set for another three year delay, should set alarm bells ringing,” said an official.