Building a Railway Where the Mountains Resist
Constructing a railway across the hills of Manipur is far more complicated than laying rails between two cities.
The Jiribam–Imphal railway must pass through steep terrain, fractured sedimentary rock, landslide-prone slopes, intense monsoon rainfall, earthquake hazards and remote construction zones.
Rails Through the Hills examines how engineers are attempting to solve these challenges.
Rather than presenting the railway simply as a transport project, SB Luwang explores it as a complete engineering system in which geology, water, tunnels, bridges, logistics, safety, cost and human decisions are deeply interconnected.
Inside the Book
Readers will explore:
- The geography of the Jiribam–Imphal railway corridor
- Why railway geometry requires so many tunnels and bridges
- Sandstone, shale and difficult geological formations
- Geological surveys, boreholes and rock-quality assessment
- How the New Austrian Tunnelling Method — NATM — works
- The engineering challenges of Tunnel No. 12
- Groundwater and water ingress inside mountain tunnels
- Tunnel collapse, realignment and redesign
- Why Manipur is highly vulnerable to landslides
- Rainfall, pore-water pressure and slope instability
- A detailed examination of the 2022 Tupul landslide
- Landslide warning signs and monitoring technologies
- Retaining walls, rock bolts, drainage and slope stabilisation
- The extraordinary 141-metre Noney railway bridge piers
- Bridge foundations in difficult mountain terrain
- Steel-girder launching over deep valleys
- Earthquake-resistant railway engineering
- Monsoon construction and seasonal project delays
- River scour, flash floods and drainage engineering
- Climate change and future design rainfall
- Transporting machinery into remote construction zones
- Worker safety and construction camps
- Land acquisition and environmental management
- Security, highway blockades and supply-chain challenges
- Why mountain railway projects cost so much
- How project costs grew from early estimates into a mega-project
- Why completion deadlines repeatedly change
- Contractors, consultants and government agencies
- Railway maintenance after construction
- Landslide monitoring during railway operation
- Tunnel emergency evacuation systems
- Bridge inspection after earthquakes
- Designing a railway expected to last a century
A Major Engineering Case Study
The approximately 111-kilometre Jiribam–Imphal railway contains some of the most challenging railway structures being constructed in Northeast India.
The book examines major engineering features including:
Tunnel No. 12
A tunnel system extending for roughly ten kilometres through highly variable geological conditions.
Noney Railway Bridge
A spectacular valley bridge featuring railway piers reaching approximately 141 metres in height.
Tupul Landslide
A detailed study of the devastating 2022 landslide and the interaction between rainfall, slope geometry, geological weakness and construction activity.
Engineering Explained Simply
Technical topics are explained for readers without an engineering background while still providing useful detail for students and professionals.
The book includes:
- Engineering diagrams
- Flowcharts
- Simplified equations
- Geological explanations
- Tunnel-support concepts
- Landslide mechanics
- Bridge engineering principles
- Monitoring systems
- Case studies
- Chapter takeaways
- Glossary of technical terms
- Extensive source notes
Who Should Read This Book?
This book is suitable for:
- Civil engineering students
- Railway enthusiasts
- Geology students
- Infrastructure professionals
- Tunnel engineers
- Transport planners
- Researchers
- Competitive-exam aspirants
- Policymakers
- Readers interested in Manipur and Northeast India
More Than a Railway Story
Rails Through the Hills is ultimately about how engineers work with uncertainty.
Mountains cannot be completely understood before construction begins. Geological conditions change. Water appears unexpectedly. Slopes move. Designs must be revised.
The lesson of the Jiribam–Imphal railway is therefore not that engineers can conquer mountains.
It is that successful mountain engineering requires investigation, observation, monitoring, adaptation and respect for the landscape.
Rails Through the Hills tells the story of that challenge.
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