At 12:40 pm on Tuesday, a series of deafening blasts on the western ghats near Virar paved the way for a new chapter of Indian railways, helping it achieve the final “tunnel breakthroughs” for the dedicated freight corridor between Mumbai and north India. The corridor promises to ferry heavy haul trains independent of existing rail corridors. 

“There are three tunnels on the WDFC [western dedicated freight corridor], one in the Aravali range and the other two on the western ghats. With the breakthrough today, the boring of all three tunnels can be said to be complete. This is a major milestone,” said Rajeev Tyagi, WDFC’s chief project manager.