Indian engineers have broken through the final rock section of the Zojila tunnel, a 13.14-kilometre passage beneath the Himalayas that will provide year-round road access between Srinagar (the main city in Indian-administered Kashmir) and Leh, the principal city of the Ladakh region bordering China. The breakthrough, marked by a remote-triggered blast on Tuesday, makes the Zojila tunnel India's longest road tunnel and a key link in a wider infrastructure drive to move troops and supplies to the high-altitude frontier regardless of winter snowfall. The project is part of a broader network that includes a $3.9-billion railway to Kashmir — inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2025 — and reflects India's efforts to strengthen its strategic position along a 3,500-kilometre frontier with China that has remained a source of tension since a deadly border clash in 2020.