* Additional coaches for Banihal-Baramulla line
Adil Lateef
SRINAGAR, July 4: The Railways today said that 110 kilometer long Banihal-Katra rail would be completed in year 2020.
The General Manager of Northern Railways, Ajay Kumar Puthia, while addressing a press conference said that they are hopeful that the project would be completed in 2020. “I am optimistic that we will complete the stretch from Banihal and Katra in 2020. There are number of bridges and tunnels. This is a very complex track. Out of 110 kilometers, 94 kilometers comprise of tunnels and 8 kilometers comprise of bridges,” he said.
Puthia was here to review the arrangements for the meeting of Consultative Committee of Parliament for Ministry of Railways with Railway Board which is scheduled to be held on July 9 and 10. The meeting would be attended by Union Railway Minister, Minister of State (MoS) Railway, Board members and other officials.
Earlier, the railway authorities were hoping to complete the Banihal-Katra link in 2018 but various Public Interest Litigations hampered the progress.
The GM Railways said that September 2014 floods hampered the railway services and affected its reliability, punctuality as well as repairing. Though, he said, the minor repairing is done at Budgam but other maintenance is done outside the State at Lucknow workshop.
“We could not move out because initially the road was closed and then the movement was restricted. So, our maintenance also got hampered. Now the road link has started…expect our services would improve,” Puthia said.
When asked about the various reports that the railway track stopped the flow of water in September 2014 hence becoming reason for floods, the Railway official out-rightly rejected such reports and said: “Our embankments in no way caused the floods.”
Replying to a series of questions, Puthia said the crowding of railway coaches in Kashmir is an important issue and there are only two ways to reduce the crowding. “Either we have to increase our coaches from 8 to 12 or we have to increase frequency of train service,” he said, adding: “For both, we need additional coaches and then we could run our services as per demand.” He, however, was quick to add that the floods which hampered road communication also halted the transportation of coaches.
Puthia said that they are in the process of transporting additional coaches to the Valley as they have got clearance from the Government. “With the additional stock (coaches), we have intention of introducing whatever services are approved by Railway Board or whatever has already been declared in budget,” the GM said.
Puthia said that for running additional coaches, they need more platforms and that process is also underway. “At present, one or two coaches are on way and they are somewhere between Ramban and Banihal”, he said.
The GM said there is no project for extending the rail services to frontier district of Kupwara from Baramulla. “There is no sanction for such project. The funds and resources are limited,” he said, adding that currently the focus is on the completion of Banihal-Katra track.
The General Manager of Northern Railways said that around 22, 000 passengers travel on Banihal-Srinagar-Baramulla railway track every day. “The earning is around Rs 2.5 lakh per day,” he said.
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