Engineers of the Indian Railways have devised a groundbreaking "Himalayan Tunnelling Method" to overcome challenging terrain in the Himalayas during the construction of Tunnel-1 within the Katra-Banihal section of the Kashmir rail link project. This 3.2-kilometer-long single tube tunnel, positioned at the base of the Trikuta Hills in the Katra-Reasi section of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project, is widely regarded as the most formidable segment of the entire project.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently announced, "We have innovatively developed (I)-TM as Himalayan tunnelling method for tunnelling through the Himalayan geology to build tunnels in Jammu and Kashmir." This novel approach involves implementing pre-excavation support measures to address the challenging "flowing conditions" encountered during tunnel excavation.