Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to inaugurate newly established Jammu Railway Division on January 6. Ahead of it, railway authorities will run a special inspection train between Jammu and Srinagar on Sunday, marking a historic milestone for Jammu and Kashmir.
According to railway officials, Prime Minister will virtually inaugurate the newly established Jammu Railway Division on January 6.
The newly carved out Railway Division will include five sections – Bhogpur Sirwal- Pathankot; Batala-Pathankot; Pathankot-Joginder Nagar; Pathankot-Jammu- Martyr Captain Tushar Mahajan Udhampur Railway Station and Srinagar-Baramulla.
The section will span to a combined distance of 742.1 kms. Presently, Jammu falls under the Ferozpur division of Northern Railway zone.
In 2014, the Railway Ministry had decided to establish three additional divisions. Along with Jammu, the other two were Gulberga in Karnataka and Silchar in Assam. It, however, took railway authorities a good five years to form a committee to assess their feasibility and financial implications.
Inspection
A railway official said that the Union Minister will have an inspection of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link ( USBRL) section.
“Special inspection train between Jammu and Kashmir will pull out from Udhampur on January 5”, said the official. The Commissioner of Railway Safety ( CRS) will also carry out the safety inspection of the Katra-Reasi section on January 7 and 8.
The 272-kilometre long USBRL rail link was sanctioned in 1994 -1995 decades ago with an anticipated cost of Rs 37,012 crore. However, the region’s uncertainty and other factors including tough geological and topographical conditions hindered the expected progress of the project.
The USBRL project includes 38 tunnels with T-39 tunnel, emerging as longest tunnel in India, stretching 12.75 kms.
A welcome move
Prithvi Raj Gupta, former general secretary of Chamber of Commerce and Industry Jammu said that the business community wholeheartedly welcomed the setting up of a Jammu railway division.
“ It had been a long-standing demand of Jammu. It will benefit the region”, he said.
Gupta, however, said that government must develop the region in a way “that encourage tourists to stay longer in Jammu.