Katra, Jan 08 :
In a significant breakthrough ahead of the actual operation of the direct train to Kashmir, a successful trial run of a high speed train was conducted on Wednesday on the Katra to Banihal stretch of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla-Rail-Link (USBRL).
According to a railway official, the train covered the distance of 110 km stretch within one hour and 10 minutes from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi railway station Katra upto Banihal. In return the train speed went upto 120-kms-per hour.
Commissioner Railway Safety (CRS) northern circle Dinesh Chand Deshwal and other officials of Konkan railways and northern railways were part of the trial run. The train will return to Katra in the afternoon.
With this successful run, now all eyes are on the formal inauguration of the train to Kashmir which could be held anytime soon.
“If everything goes according to plan, the formal inauguration of the train to Kashmir may be held on January 25 and from January 26 normal operation of train service to Kashmir will begin,” said an official of railways.
Talking to media persons, Commissioner Railway Safety Dinesh Chand Deshwal expressed satisfaction over the high speed trial run.
“From here on the rising grade, the speed of the train was 110-kmph and it was a satisfactory trial. On the fallen grade all the complexities were taken care of,” the CRS said.
“The section is ready and we have gathered the information during our two-day visit and will analyse the data. Soon the steps will be taken to make the normal functioning of railways possible,” Deshwal said, adding, “We expect that soon train service will become possible.”
As per the CRS the design of the track has been developed to run trains at 100 kmph speed.
The CRS was accompanied by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) ISBRL and other officials of Konkan railways and northern railways.
With this successful run, now all eyes are on the formal inauguration of the train to Kashmir which could be held anytime soon.
“If everything goes according to plan, the formal inauguration of the train to Kashmir may be held on January 25 and from January 26 normal operation of train service to Kashmir will begin,” said an official of railways.
“But there are talks of starting the services on January 13 but nothing has been finalised yet,” the official said.
Earlier, on December 16 and 17, CRS had conducted a visit to the area and took stock of the situation. Since then, officials of Konkan railways were preparing for the trial run, and all the issues were fixed which were pointed out by the CRS during his previous visit.
This visit of CRS was of utmost importance to start the direct train from New Delhi to Srinagar which will be a historical moment to connect Kashmir valley with the rest of the country through the rail network.
Now, the CRS will be submitting his report to the railway department in New Delhi after which a final call will be taken for the start of the train service to Kashmir,” he added.
The start of direct train service to Kashmir will benefit the overall development of J&K whereas trade and tourism of Kashmir valley will also increase. Goods and fuel, which so far are being transported to the valley through the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, will also be taken in cargo trains and the prices of goods will also come down.
Meanwhile, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a New Railway Division for Jammu on Monday, rail connectivity is expected to get a major boost in Jammu and Kashmir and all the decisions about starting new projects in the region will be taken from the Jammu railway division.
The history of railways in Jammu and Kashmir dates to the pre-independence era when in 1890 a train service was started between Jammu and Sialkot (now in Pakistan). After that it was only after the 1965 war between India and Pakistan that work started to bring direct trains to Jammu from Punjab. In 1972, the first train reached Jammu with the name of Srinagar express, now Jhelum Express and after that other trains also arrived in the winter capital. The latest among them all is Vande Bharat express, which is expected to become the first train to Kashmir directly from the national capital. In 1981 Jammu to Udhampur train project was taken up and the foundation stone was laid by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on April 14, 1983. After missing several deadlines, on April 13, 2005 the then PM Manmohan Singh flagged off the train service to Udhampur, which is also the headquarters of northern command. After that it was the turn of Kashmir valley to witness trains running and from October 11, 2009 onwards different sections of local train service was started and on July 4, 2014, direct train service to Katra, the base camp of Mata Vaishno Devi shrine, was also started and PM Narendra Modi flagged off the same.
