Title - Commuters seek change in schedule of trains Three new trains set to start on Qazigund-Baramulla rout

Srinagar:Even as the railway authorities in Kashmir are set to introduce three new trains on the Qazigund-Baramulla route in the coming months, the railway officials have received nearly 1,000 written requests wherein daily commuters have sought changes in the timetable of various trains plying in the Valley currently.The authorities concerned say the requests will be taken care of once the new trains start plying on the route (expected to start by March-end). “We have received nearly 1,000 requests for change in timings of the trains,” a railway official said. “From our side, it is assured that once the new trains start plying in the Valley, all these requests will be looked into,” the official said.By the time three new trains are introduced, he said the railways will have the service up to Banihal. “There will definitely be a change in the timings of the present schedule,” he assured.The officer said a majority of the requests received pertain to having a train service between Qazigund and Baramulla in the afternoon.“We hope we will be able to accommodate most of the requests,” he added.The chief area manager of Northern Railways, Budgam, AK Sharma, said all the requests were being routed to railways divisional office in Ferozepur, Punjab.“Whenever we get any representation, we forward it to our division office and they take the final decision,” he said. The first train starts in the morning from south Kashmir’s Qazigund station to Srinagar and another leaves the central Kashmir’s Budgam station for Baramulla station in north Kashmir.

The trains of Kashmir are yet to be connected with the rest of the country and they ply between Qazigund and Baramulla - a distance of 119 kilometres. Even as the trial run of the train from Qazigund to Banihal was conducted successfully recently, the trains from Kashmir would still not be able to reach other parts of the country as important railway stretch between Udhampur and Banihal is still under construction. This portion is likely to be completed by 2017. Railways say 7,000 passengers travel everyday during the autumn season and in summers 9,000 passengers travel by train.