ABSTRACT
Conventional method of tunnelling includes drilling/blasting with jackhammers in combination with air legs and mucking by tippers. The paper describes the mining mechanism used for excavation of Arphal Tunnel of length 16.63 km. The discussion includes, various equipment’s used, comparison of mining mechanism with conventional method, and various site observations for this methodology. Energy consumption per cum, for mining mechanism is less as compared to conventional method of tunnelling with vertical shaft. The method is ecofriendly causing less pollution during tunnelling operation as compared to the conventional method. Cost analysis for present project site indicates that the mining mechanism is costlier by about 15 to 20 per cent as compared to the conventional method.
