Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 9: The much-awaited trial run of passenger train on 25 kilometers long Udhampur-Katra railway line was conducted successfully today with the Special Train of Northern Railways’ General Manager chugging on the track along with 16 coaches. Now, the stage is set for the inspection of the track by the Commissioner Railway Safety (CRS), which is expected within next fortnight.
General Manager of Northern Railways, V K Gupta along with heads of various units of the Northern Railways including from the Construction Division reached Udhampur from Delhi at around 6 am in the Special Train, which had 16 coaches. After inspecting arrangements at Udhampur Railway Station, the General Manager along with accompanying officers went to the north portal of T1 Tunnel and performed special prayers there.
This tunnel having a length of 3.1 kilometers was the most problematic part of the entire project as seepage of water in this tunnel had caused delay in the construction of project for several years.
Thereafter, the Special Train left for Katra Railway Station and reached there at 9.45 am successfully after crossing T3 tunnel and Jhajjar Bridge, which has the height of 82 meter—10 meter more than the height of Qutab Minar. Special prayers were also performed at Katra Railway Station, where the first ever passenger train albeit as part of trial run, reached with the blessings of Shri Mata Vaishnodevi.
During the trial run and inspection of Katra Railway Station, General Manager Northern Railways expressed satisfaction over the construction work. He, however, issued directions for the completion of leftover finishing works within shortest possible time.
In a brief interaction with the media-persons following the successful trial run of passenger train, General Manager Northern Railways said, “I am satisfied with the construction work. Now, the work is complete and heads of different wings will submit their completion report for onward submission to the Commissioner Railway Safety”.
Though General Manager didn’t specify any date about the Commissioner Railway Safety inspection, the sources said that the same was likely within next fortnight in order to pave the way for formal opening of the track. “As of now, no date has been finalized for the inauguration of the track”, the General Manager said. He, however, added that track would be thrown open for general public very shortly.
After paying obeisance at holy cave of Shri Mata Vaishnodevi in Trikuta Hills, the General Manager Northern Railways left Katra Railway Station for Delhi at around 5 pm.
According to the sources, Railway Ministry was trying to get the prestigious Udhampur-Katra railway track inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh and since the CRS inspection has been delayed by a week or so the track is likely to be inaugurated next month and would be a new year gift from the UPA Government to the Katra people in general and pilgrims visiting Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine in particular.
Following opening of this track, pilgrims from different parts of the country would be able to directly reach holy town of Katra by train.
About the deployment of security personnel on the track, sources said, “the GRP manpower would be deployed as and when the date of inauguration is officially communicated”, adding “even some left over works on the security related infrastructure are going on at a rapid pace and very shortly the same will be handed over to the concerned agencies”.
According to the sources, a proposal has been sent to the concerned authorities of the Railways Ministry seeking extension of train coverage to all the regions of the country besides some pairs of DMUs for Udhampur-Katra track as are being presently run on Jammu-Udhampur track.
It is pertinent to mention here that the work on Udhampur-Katra railway track suffered several delays because of varied reasons particularly problems in some tunnels, which prompted the construction wing to carry out some modifications in the designs and alignment.
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