Title - Udhampur Katra railway project misses another deadline Lastupdate:- Sun, 6 Oct 20

Once again, the Northern Railways has breached the deadline for much awaited 25-km Udhampur-Katra railway line which was set to be commissioned in the month of September this year or before Navratras.             Official sources told Greater Kashmir that most of the formalities as well as construction work on the railway line has been completed, but it still awaits the final clearance by the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS).  The CRS team could not conduct the mandatory inspection for the trial run on the section before throwing it open for passenger trains, sources said. “Safety clearance from CRS is mandatory for making new line operational,” they said, adding that the Chairman Railway Board and General Manager of Northern Railway will conduct thorough inspection of the hilly track before it is made operational. Sources added that after inspecting track and construction work, the Ferozpur division gave approval to the 25 kilometer long track and wrote a letter on August 19 to CRS for conducting final inspection but nothing has been done so far.     “Now the track awaits only final inspection by CRS authorities” sources said and added that the reason for delay was well known to higher ups.        The track consists of 11-km of tunnelling passage, nine major bridges, 29 minor bridges and 10 rail under-bridges. The tallest bridge on the section is 85 metres and the longest tunnel is 3.15 km. Pertinently, the inauguration of the 25-km long railway track by Prime Minster on June 25 was postponed because the Chairman Railway Board had found some technical snag along the track. Earlier, the rail link between Udhampur and Katra was scheduled to be completed by 2005. The survey on the rail project was conducted in 1998 but the actual groundwork was started in 1999 setting 2005 as deadline to connect Katra with the rest of the country. Sources said that the Katra Railway station has also been completed with modern facilities including tourist guide counter, cloak room, waiting hall, VIP lounge, escalators and lifts, besides parking space on either                                                   side. They said that the Railway authorities were  mulling to extend Jammu mail and Samparak Kranti trains up to Katra, besides introducing new trains including Katra-Kalka (Chandigarh) Express (bi-weekly), Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Udhampur Express, (fully air-conditioned) and Ahmedabad-Udhampur Express. They said a set of local trains from Jammu to Katra and Pathankot to Katra are also likely to be introduced to cater to the rush of Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims from Jammu and Pathankot to Katra.