Katra Railway Station will be linked with Major States

Ahead of the launch of prestigious Udhampur-Katra rail project, a high level team of senior officers of Railways headed by Railways Board Chairman Vinay Mittal today had a detailed survey of Udhampur-Katra track including Tunnel No. 1, the major hurdle in the prestigious project after which Mr Mittal announced that the train would reach Katra in August or September this year.

Top official sources told the News Agency that the Railways Ministry, whose additional charge is presently being held by CP Joshi after the exit of Pawan Kumar Bansal in much publicized Railways bribery scam, wanted to get Udhampur-Katra railway project inaugurated at the hands of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh during his June 25 visit to the Kashmir Valley.

“The team wanted to explore whether it would be feasible to run the trains up to Katra after inauguration of the new rail project by the Prime Minister,’’ sources said, adding that the team inter-acted with the local officials, Railway engineers, experts and those engaged in execution of the project to get detailed appraisal of the project.

However, Mr Mittal ruled out such a possibility saying the train would reach Katra in August or September this year.

“All hurdles in the extension of rail track from Udhampur to Katra have been removed. Problems at Tunnel No. 1 ahead of Udhampur have also been overcome. Now the work is in progress of laying track and, hopefully, the train will reach Katra in August-September,’’ he said while speaking to reporters in Udhampur.
Replying to a question, Mr Mittal said 150 to 200 more long distance trains were being equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) while anti-collision devices were also being installed in the trains.

He added that finishing touches were being given to Banihal-Qazigund main railway tunnel.
To a question on frequent delay in arrival of trains, Mr Mittal attributed it to single track at most of the places. He said the long distance as well as local trains run on same track. Unless there were separate tracks for long distance and local trains, some problems would remain, he said, adding that separate track was being laid for goods trains.

The team would submit a detailed report to the Railways Ministry in the next couple of days on the position of Udhampur-Katra rail track.

The team headed by Railways Board Chairman Vinay Mittal comprised Northern Railways General Manager VK Gupta, Divisional Railways Manager, NC Goyal, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Ferozepur Division MM Singh and Divisional Traffic Manager, Jammu, Ram Nath Meena.

The team inspected Tunnel No. 1 on Udhampur-Katra track, which had become a major bottleneck in launch of the rail project to Katra town, the base camp of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi ji shrine. The project would have been completed much back but for the problems that cropped up in the construction of Tunnel No. 1.

However, most of the problems that emerged in the construction of tunnel have been overcome and the track was now almost ready barring minor hiccups but, sources said, the Railways authorities didn’t want to take any chances. They wanted the project to be inaugurated only when the trains were able to chug smoothly on the track especially if it had to be inaugurated by no less a person than the Prime Minister himself.

Sources said the Department was mulling to extend Jammu Mail and Samparak Kranti, both Jammu-New Delhi trains to Katra from Udhampur, Delhi-Pathankot Express from Pathankot (Punjab) to Katra and introduce new trains including Katra-Kalka (Chandigarh) Express (bi-weekly), Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Udhampur Express,  (fully air conditioned) and Ahmedabad-Udhampur Express initially.

Besides a set of local trains from Jammu to Katra and Pathankot to Katra could also be introduced to clear the rush of Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims from Jammu and Pathankot to Katra. At the later stage, more trains could be introduced to Katra or extended from Jammu and Udhampur.

Sources said the trains would link Katra to various major stations of India.
Worthwhile to mention here that the Prime Minister is scheduled to inaugurate Banihal-Qazigund railway line during his June 25 visit to Kashmir along with Mughal Road. The Railways Ministry wanted to explore the possibility on whether the project could be ready for inauguration on June 25.

The high level Railways team headed by the Chairman Railways Board that inspected railway track at Udhampur, Katra and Tunnel No. 1 returned to New Delhi this evening. Sources said that work on 25 km-long Udhampur-Katra rail link is almost complete and Railways will hand it over to Commissioner Railway Safety (CRS) for approval to run trains up to Katra.

“Safety clearance from CRS is mandatory for making new line operational. Barring the laying of ballast-less track on the 3.1 km long T1 tunnel, the most difficult tunnel in the route, all other works in the Katra route are nearly complete now,” sources said.

Katra station is ready with three platforms and two more platforms were proposed to be constructed later. With the commissioning of the new route, pilgrims will be able to reach the base camp of Mata Vaishno Devi shrine at Katra without having to break their journey at Jammu.

However, sources were of the view that it wouldn’t be possible to take 30,000 to 35,000 pilgrims daily to Katra by train and other passenger services would remain in force. Half a dozen trains could take 6,000 to 7,000 pilgrims to Katra while others would have to take either local train from Jammu to Katra or travel by bus and other modes of private transport.

The Udhampur-Katra rail route, coming up at an estimated cost of Rs 960 crore, passes through inhospitable terrain, making it an extremely challenging engineering project.
The route consists of seven tunnels and 30 small and big bridges, including a 185-feet high tunnel. A total of seven tunnels span over 10 km of the 25-km stretch.

Security at Railway Station reviewed

Security at Jammu Railway Station and track came up for a high level review at a gathering held at Railway Station this morning below the chairmanship of newly appointed SP Railways Shiv Kumar Sharma.

Senior officers of all security agencies, Railways administration and others participated within the security review meeting that last concerning 2 hours.

Security arrangements for upcoming annual pilgrimage of Shri Amarnath ji yatra were reviewed at the meeting. The pilgrimage is beginning on June twenty five and would continue until August two.

Authorities determined to form tight security arrangements for Amarnath yatris, who would arrive here by trains from totally different elements of the country.

Congestion and overcrowding at Railway Station additionally figured at the meeting.

Mr Sharma said some measures were mentioned and would be shortly place in place to decongest the railway station where thousands of individuals, principally the pilgrims of holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi ji, arrive daily.

All agencies determined to share Intelligence inputs to thwart any terror plot.

Railway lines in j &k

Train plies without driver

In a rarest of rare incidents in the Railways history and first time in Jammu and Kashmir, a Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) moved on the tracks without the driver and covered a distance of over 20 kilometers thereby catching the railway officials napping and exposing chinks in the safety measures.

Taking the incident seriously, the Divisional Railways Manager (DRM), Ferozepur Division, Vishesh Choubey ordered immediate suspension of five officials including the Manager of Qazigund Railway Station, from where the DMU moved, and directed Chief Area Manager of Kashmir valley to conduct a detailed inquiry into the incident, which has taken place due to gross negligence of the railway staff, and submit a report within a period of seven days.

Official sources said that after scheduled services on Qazigund-Srinagar-Budgam section, the Diesel Multiple Unit was parked in the yard at Qazigund Railway Station last evening and after completion of their respective duties the staff of the railways left for their respective destinations.

However, at around 1.45 am, the train suddenly moved from the yard and entered the main track without driver thereby catching the concerned railway staff napping. Due to sloppy gradient, the DMU continued to move freely and its speed even touched 80 kilometers per hour.

Sources said that Railway Protection Force (RPF) and State police personnel deployed for the security of the train, and railway officials were in sleep when the train started moving towards Srinagar. However, a police jawan noticed the movement of the DMU at Sadoora Police Station and informed higher railway officials, RPF and GRP officials.

Accordingly, the concerned authorities at other railway stations were sounded for necessary steps to stop the train. However, before any arrangement could be made, the DMU crossed two more stations Anantnag and Bijbehara, sources said.

After traversing several kilometers long distance and covering five railway stations, the DMU came to a halt due to steep gradient at Panjgam Railway Station, where the railway authorities with the assistance of RPF and GRP personnel had also erected poles and laid concrete blocks as well as large number of sand bags to stop the train.

Soon after the train stopped, the security forces personnel cordoned the DMU apprehending that some anti-national elements might be plying the train. However, none was found and finally it came to the fore that DMU moved on the track without any driver due to the gross negligence on the part of concerned authorities at Qazigund Railway Station.

Later, the DMU was taken back to Qazigund and parked there in the yard.

When the Divisional Railways Manager (DRM), Ferozepur Division, Vishesh Choubey came to know about the incident this morning, he immediately ordered suspension of five officials posted at Qazigund Police Station including Station Manager, driver of the DMU and some guards.

He also directed Chief Area Manager of Northern Railways, Srinagar, Opinder Singh to conduct a detailed enquiry into the incident and submit report within seven days as to how the train moved for such a long distance without any of the railway staff or security personnel noticing it.

"More heads will roll on the receipt of inquiry report as this is a very serious lapse on the part of concerned staff", the DRM said when contacted, adding "this incident has also put a question mark on the safety measures being taken in the Kashmir valley".

To a question, he said, "this is the rarest of the rare incidents in the railways and is fraught with danger of causing massive destruction".

About the possibilities behind moving of train, official sources said, "the train can move from loop in the yard to main track only when the link between them remains in position after parking of DMU and brakes are not properly applied", adding "even the possibility of someone intentionally removing the brakes and then positioning the track link cannot be ruled out".

When contacted, IG GRP, Naveen Aggarwal said, "prima facie the negligence on the part of railway officials seems to be the reason behind the grave incident but we have registered a case at Qazigund GRP Station under Railways Act for investigations at our level", adding "we will work on all the angles to ascertain the real cause behind the moving of train without driver".

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Railway lines in j &k

Udhampur to Katra and  Banihal to Qazigund Railway sections to be ready by Dec 2012

Arguing that there has been significant progress and Udhampur-Katra routes Banihal-Qazigund rail, the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of the Northern Railway, RK Gupta said today that both parties would be willing to rattle the train before December next year . However, the twin cities of the state capital would be connected by rail by 2017 taking into account the time spent in performing the difficult task of building more bridges and major world's longest river Chenab.

Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, Mr Gupta said that a total of 42 tunnels with a length of 120 km in the Udhampur-Qazigund and 17 of them have already been completed while work is paced accelerated in the rest. "As for the gallery of 11 km between Qazigund and Banihal is concerned, the 10.5 km part is completed and yet to be completed in September this year," he added.

"After completion of the excavation remaining line began operations, the installation of sophisticated ventilation system and installation of reactors less track so that the entire section Banihal-Qazigund rattle ready to train in December 2012," says CAO that while the longest tunnel of revelation is under construction about 400 meters below the Jawahar tunnel to avoid the snow line and provide connections to transportation to and from the years between two parts of the state.

In addition to galleries, Udhampur-Qazigund portion has a total of 122 bridges, construction of two mega in the river Chenab and Anji River. While the bridge over the Chenab River would have the honor of being the world's highest and longest span railway bridge, the Anji Bridge is the fourth highest.

"Out of 122 bridges, 59 so far and we have completed the work quickly on the rest," Gupta said while revealing that the first cable cranes for the construction of world's tallest bridge over Chenab enter into force in May and second since August this year.

Information on the Udhampur-Katra section, the chief administrative officer of Northern Railway has shown that the completion of the block of 1.8 km long diversion tunnel No. 1, drying procedures and posing tunnel reactor No. 3 all other works have been performed.

"The construction of the reactor will be completed in December this year, while work on the tunnel Tunnel No. 1 and No. 3 was completed in March-April next year, and this section would also be willing to rattle the train before December next year, "he said.

To a question, said that if a provision of Rs 1,100 crore has been kept in the railway budget for the project during the current year, however, "we can achieve more, if they can happen." Last year, an amount of Rs 950 crore was spent on the project.

About the security infrastructure in the Valley, Mr. Gupta said the police stations, posts, guard posts and barracks for GRP personnel have been created gradually and police stations and posts in seven stations have already been delivered to the GRP. "All the security infrastructure must be in place later this year," he added.

Reported that the construction of 165 km along the road to reach project sites, Northern Railways has provided road connectivity to 30 households directly and indirectly to many more. In about 95 km long road was built during the project and the entire 260 km of road length would be delivered to the State Government for the subsequent maintenance.

"We intend to metal in the streets, but it would only be possible if the State Government shall extend full cooperation in this regard," he said while revealing that a businessman who was awarded the metal work along 17 km of road to Kantha Kouri, was unable to work due to lack of cooperation at the state government.

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