The complete line
Kashmir valley is one of the few regions that is marred by inaccessibility owing to a vulnerable national highway which witnesses closures for most part of the year. The highway is so fragile that any slight change in the weather patterns keeps it closed for days together.
We do not blame the administration for the mess the highway has turned into but the major contributor for its present status is the nature itself as the highway is passing through a chain of mountainous regions that have become weak and skid down even due to a slightest tremble.
Since the connectivity issue has been one of major reasons for the region being considered as one of the most underdeveloped areas, the people here had relied largely on the day when Srinagar will be connected to Jammu via a rail link. Though the project has been going on since the mid eighties but it has always escaped the completion deadline-making it one of the longest ever lingering projects.
However, a statement by the northern railways just the other day has brought some cheers for the people here. The Northern Railway will be completing the most difficult 111-kilometre long section of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link by December 2022 that would connect Kashmir to the rest of India through the railway network.
The 272 km railway line is being undertaken at an estimated cost of Rs 28,000 crore by the Northern Railway. The first section connecting Udhampur to Katra and the third section between Banihal and Baramulla have been completed with both sectionshaving been declared as operational. However, the work to complete the most difficult Katra-Banihal section is still going on and as of now remains the only reason that the rail link cannot be declared as fully functional.
Though the Udhampur-Katra (25 km) section, Banihal-Qazigund (18 km) section and Qazigund-Baramulla (118 km) section have already been commissioned, the last remaining section, the 111 km Katra-Banihal section is currently under execution and officials have claimed that the 126 km out of 174 km of tunnels on this section has already been completed.
Interestingly, the project is, perhaps, the most difficult new railway line project undertaken in the entire Indian subcontinent. The terrain passes through young Himalayas, which are full of geological surprises and numerous problems. For execution purposes, the project has been divided into three sub-sections.
Katra-Qazigund leg, which is the most difficult stretch of this project, and its alignment of this stretch which is 129 km long, passes through Patni and Pir Panjal ranges and its alignment requires construction of 62 important and major bridges and minor bridges, besides construction of 35 tunnels, totalling a length of 103 km bringing the percentage of the total length of the alignment of tunnels to approximately 80 per cent.
The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail project is highly essential to provide an alternative and reliable transportation system to Jammu and Kashmir to join Kashmir Valley to the Indian Railways network and in view of the importance of this project in providing seamless and hassle-free connectivity in Jammu and Kashmir, the project was declared as a national project in 2002.
The completion of this ambitious project will unleash a new chapter for the region and will provide vast opportunities for trade to grow and expand.
KV Network
