Irfan Yattoo
Northern railways is all set to start work on the 50-kilometer Baramulla- Uri sector in Kashmir, for which tenders have been floated, officials said on Sunday.
Chief Area Manager (CAM) Kashmir Railways, Saqib Yousuf Yatoo told Rising Kashmir that railways is all set to connect Uri Baramulla with the railways and tenders have floated in this regard.
“It is positive development for the people of Kashmir and will boost connectivity in the region,” he said.
On n March 24, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced the operation of the country’s first indigenous semi-high speed train on the Udhampur-Srinagar- Baramulla rail route. The new age train is likely to be introduced by the end of this year.
Vaishnaw stated that the Udhampur-Banihal track connecting Jammu with Srinagar will be completed by December this year, or early next year.
At present 19 train services with seven trains chug regularly on Baramulla- Banihal sector in J&K. About 30,000 passengers including students and office goers travel in the trains every day.
Kashmir got its first train service in 2013 and it was inaugurated by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway (USBRL) railway track is being laid to connect Kashmir with the rest of the country. It comes under the jurisdiction of the Firozpur Railway division of Indian Railways’ Northern zone.
The 359 m (1,178 ft) tall Chenab Bridge lies on this line, which once completed will be the tallest railway bridge in the world.
