Title - Kashmiris await Pir Panjal, India’s longest railway tunnel

Banihal (Jammu & Kashmir): When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flags off a train to Qazigund on Tuesday from Banihal in Jammu that will travel through the 11km Pir Panjal tunnel, the Kashmir valley will be just a step away from being fully linked to India’s extensive railway network.
For Ijaz Bhat, who has laboured with at least 1,300 workers and 150 engineers to build the country’s longest railway tunnel, it will be a moment of pride. “For me this is the best,” Bhat says, though he knows there’s a longer rail tunnel in China.
Built at a cost of Rs.1,300 crore, the T-80 tunnel will provide a second, all-weather link to the Kashmir Valley, which often becomes inaccessible in winter when the road through the 60-year-old Jawahar tunnel is blocked because of snow.
For now, there will be train services from Banihal to Qazigund in Kashmir valley and onward to Srinagar and Baramulla. The rail link from Banihal to Udhampur in Jammu, expected to be completed by 2017, will then provide a seamless connection to the rest of the country.
Saif-ud-din Malik, 65, who has never seen a train before, is barely able contain his excitement. “I have no words to express how much the people will benefit,” Malik said. “We had to walk for miles together. In winters, it got very difficult for us. We used to be stranded for 10-15 days when it snowed. It used to get very tough if someone was sick. Now in 10 minutes you can take the patient to a doctor in Kashmir.”
The improved connectivity is not only strategically important for India but will also help in integrating the people there with the rest of the country, according to Afsir Karim, a retired army general.
“Roads are few in Kashmir and these get blocked due to floods or snowfall. An all-weather rail link will help movement of people, essential goods and goods for trade, besides the movement of people,” Karim said. “The people of Kashmir have been feeling deprived for years. The more facilities you provide, the more it will help link them to the rest of India. If terrorists target this (rail network), it is likely to turn the Kashmiri people against them, as it means cutting off facilities. The network will work in its own way to bring peace to the valley and the region.”
Gulab Hussain Bhat, a government employee, says the train service from Banihal will mean saving on commuting to Srinagar. “My children travel from here to Srinagar to study engineering,” Bhat said. “They spend Rs.100-150 a day, but now they will be able to travel very cheap. So Rs.4,000-5,000 of our expenditure towards conveyance will be saved.”
The benefit extends to social aspects as well. “Our girls, who go to study in Srinagar, will come back home the same day,” Bhat said. “Earlier there was a lot of problem. A lot of girls discontinued their studies because families would not allow for stay overnight or stay away from home. So this will do a lot of good.”
The Pir Panjal tunnel is a part of the 345 km Jammu, Udhampur, Katra, Qazigund, Baramulla railway line. Of this, the 119km section between Baramulla and Qazigund in Kashmir was commissioned in 2009. The 53km Jammu to Udhampur section was opened to the public in 2005. The section that would connect Udhampur and Qazigund is expected to be completed by 2017.
For the railways, safety is a top priority. “Given the sensitivity of the region, adequate safety provisions have been made,” said Neeraj Sharma, chief public relations officer at Northern Railways. “Both the stations, track and tunnel as well as the train will be manned by security personnel.”