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First train to Kashmir has trial run

          Kakpora (Jammu and Kashmir): A rail link connecting the Himalayan region has become a reality with the trial run of a seven-coach diesel engine train (two engines and five coaches) along a route linking Budgam in Kashmir and Kakpora of Pulwama District. The train moved at a speed of 100 km per hour covering a distance of 24 km in less than half an hour. Residents were taken by surprise as there was no prior announcement of the trail run. "At first we couldn't believe that there was going to be a train service in Kashmir because this is a hilly area. But now that the project is nearly completed, we are very happy," said Abdul Qayoon. The Indian Railways has an ambitious plan to connect Srinagar with Jammu, and to the rest of the country. Of the proposed 305-kilometer track around 56-kilometer stretch connecting Jammu to Udhampur has been completed so far. Mangat Ram Sharma, Minister of Health and Medical Education, Labour and Employment and Ladakh Affairs, said the Kashmir Valley would greatly benefit from the project, once completed. "With the launch of the train service in the Kashmir valley it will be both a fun ride as well as a means of transport. People of the valley will like it and also greatly benefit from it," Sharma said. The Centre had approved the 287-km long Jammu-Udhampur- Qazigund-Srinagar-Baramulla National Railway project in Kashmir in 1982 at a cost of around two billion dollars. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flagged off the Jammu-Udhampur stretch in April 2005. The project got a push in 1995 when it was declared a national project and additional funds were channelised. But the progress of the project was marred when Islamic militants killed a railway engineer and his brother in June 2004. However, tough terrain remains the real challenge for Indian Railways' bid to connect the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country.
- August 25,  2007