Srinagar, May 07: Following authorisation from the Ministry of Railways, the northern railways is considering increasing the 135-kilometer-longBanihal-Baramulla stretch in Jammu and Kashmir, for which tenders have been allocated by the union government, officials said on Sunday.
Chief Area Manager (CAM) Kashmir, Saqib Yousuf Yatoo (IRTS) told Rising Kashmir that the Northern Railways is mulling to begin Final Location Survey (FLS) for doubling of Baramulla-Banihal Section and for which proposals are being invited by the Ministry.
“Presently , it’s a single-track line from Baramulla to Banihal, and the railway will conduct surveys for that,” he said, adding that the team will look at expenditure expenses, land requirements, and other factors.
CAM Saqib said the proposal regarding the doubling was approved by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on March 25 and for the same, northern railways has floated a tender for the same work.
“The survey involves assessing the tentative route along with the quantum of land required for the project. A final report will be sent to the board for approval,” he said.
CAM Saqib said during engineering survey work, the concerned officials will be using modern survey techniques such as Aerial Survey and DGPS (Differential Global Positioning System).
“They will also check whether there is need for additional land for the project or it can be laid on existing procured land in the Valley,” he said.
Another official said the doubling of the critical section, along with the other doubling projects being taken up simultaneously in the region, will help promote socio-economic development.
“It will boost local fruits including apple in the region with the faster movement, while passengers can benefit with the increase in the average speed of trains in the sections,” the official said.
On 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.
