Jammu-Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (JUSBRL) Project

[Hindustani]

Originally Posted by MxC

I was wondering about the security of the two mega bridges that are being constructed on the route. Does someone knows how is railways planning to protect these bridges. I'd think a 24 hrs CCTV system capable of night vision even during bad weather must be part of the security apparatus.

cant be worrying about cross border terrorism at this point. Kashmir needs to be linked to rest of India efficiently & not just Kashmiris from all parts of Jammu & K. valley but dont forget ladakhis, zanskaris has to be showed India will take care of its rough terrain infrastructure & they will be much much better off as indian citizens.

security situation of K. valley cant be any worse than maoist rebels, naxalites, assam rebels right now.

Remember. Well infrastructured Kashmir, Ladakh, Jammu, Zanskar means stronger India.

Imagine a 6 lane expressway started from pathankot-Jammu-Srinagar-Kargil-Leh. Then really know India is no longer a 3rd world poor country.

[bhopalus]

Yes, the connectivity will provide for economic integration. It's a genius idea. Even the separatist Kashmiris will be forced to stay with India if they're means to livelihood are dependent on trade with other parts of India.

[bhopalus]

no, check this instead:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...il_network.svg

[IndiansUnite]

Update on the 11kms Banihal tunnel -

J&K to have longest rail tunnel in India

New Delhi: With an aim to connect the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country by a rail link, work on an 11-km tunnel—the longest in the nation’s railway network—is being carried out between Banihal and Qazigund in Jammu and Kashmir.

“The tunnel will be the longest in the Indian railway network,’’ said a senior official of Ircon, which has been entrusted with the responsibility of constructing the 187-km-long railway network from Baramulla to Sangaldan.

Passing through the Pir Panjal mountain, the tunnel is being constructed with state-of-the-art technology. “We are using the New Austrian Tunneling Method with the help of six German consultants,’’ the official said, adding, “Our engineers are also involved in designing and constructing the tunnel.’’ The eight-metre-high tunnel will have to be completed by 2010. “We have constructed 4.5 km of the tunnel,’’ said the official. He said the tunnel will also have a three-metre road along the track “for the emergency use of ambulances and small trucks’’. The 340-km-long J&K rail link project aims to link Katra with Baramulla. Currently, the longest land tunnel in the world is the 34.6-km Lotschberg Base Tunnel in the Bernese Alps, Switzerland.

[TOI]

[MxC]

An image of Gambhir bridge (before Udhampur ?) from another thread. Also copied below:



(Source: leon_chauhan's photos)

[MxC]

I'd posted this in the J&K Projects thread also as post # 26:

I noticed the following in a recent Northern Railway press release from Feb 26:

HIGH LIGHTS OF RAIL BUDGET 2008-09 PERTAINING TO NORTHERN RAILWAY
...
...
SURVEY FOR NEW RAIL LINES

• Dehradun-Kalsi
• Jammu –Rajouri –Poonch –Akhnoor
• Meerut-Panipt
• ...
...

I couldn't find any additional details on this new proposed line . Does somebody have any details of this?
(BTW, I think the correct sequence should have been Jammu - Akhnoor - Rajauri - Poonch)

[MxC]

Nine railway stations to come up in Kashmir Valley
Source: ET

With trains set to chug along the picturesque Kashmir Valley this summer, Railways have drawn a plan to set up nine railway stations in the region.

The railway stations would come up at Anantnag, Baijpora, Pampore, Kakapora, Awantipora, Rajvoser, Srinagar and Budgam and Baramulla, northern railway sources said.

Some of these stations have already come up and others are under the process of completion, they said adding that one car shed for repairs too has come up at Budgam.

Over 15 bogies, three engines and track repair vehicle have already been sent to the Kashmir valley.

The trial run of the inaugural train was conducted in February. The trial started from central Badgam district railway station and ended at Panzgam railway station in south Kashmir's Pulwama district.

The rail project is being commissioned in two phases. In the first phase, the rail link between south Kashmir's Anantnag district and north Kashmir's Baramulla district will be completed while in the second phase, railway operations between the valley and the rest of the country will begin.

[IndiansUnite]

CNN IBN video : Kashmir to get train service from August - It'll cover 66kms and connect Qazigund to Baramullah. Lalu Prasad is planning to inaugurate the project on 15th August.

[MxC]

Qazigund-Baramulla rail link to be ready by August

Srinagar, April 8: The Qazigund-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link of the prestigious Kashmir rail project would be made functional by August, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav said in Srinagar on Tuesday.

He also said that the 66-km stretch between Anantnag and Budgam districts was ready and would be dedicated to the nation by June this year.

Asked about the progress of work on the most difficult part of the rail link between Udhampur and Qazigund, he told reporters at the Srinagar railway station at Nowgam that officers involved in the project would be in a better position to talk about it.

The Udhampur-Qazigund link passes through mountainous terrain on which nearly two dozen bridges and tunnels are to be constructed for connecting Kashmir Valley to rest of the country by rail.

The Railway Minister also inspected a train, which was briefly operated as a 'mock run'.

Yadav went around the railway station and inspected the facilities for the commuters there besides interacting with local work force working on the railway project.

He also planted a Chinar sapling in the compound of the railway station building.

[kronik]

Today's Sunday Indian Express has a whole page special on the Jammu-Baramulla Line. The paper has more pictures and more text, unfortunately, not all is on the website.

THE CONNECTING TRAIN

Mandakini Gahlot
Posted online: Sunday, May 25, 2008

As work on India’s most challenging railway track—the Jammu-Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla link—picks up steam, photographer Praveen Khanna travels on a train from Jammu to Udhampur, the section that became functional three years ago and brought the region into the national mainstream.

YOU don’t have to be an engineer to see why this track is such a marvel. It weaves its way meticulously through the Shivalik range bypassing all barriers, be they mountains or rivers,” says a frequent traveller on the Jammu-Udhampur line. The journey is picture-postcard perfect. Green mountains and steep valleys creep up on you suddenly as the quaint little train chugs along, stopping at stations you never knew existed. Bajalta, Sangar, Manwal and Ram Nagar, tidy little towns nestled among the hilly Shivalik range.

This was the section that first opened three years ago, connecting Delhi and other regions to Udhampur and soon it will extend and travel further into Katra, Qazigund, Srinagar and Baramulla.

With over 36 major and 122 minor bridges on a track that is a little over 53 km long, the one-and-a-half hour journey from Jammu to Udhampur is a delight.
The track runs through almost 10 km of tunnels, the longest of which is 2.45 km. “To put it in perspective, the 2.5-km tunnel is longer than the Jawahar Tunnel on National Highway No. 1 on the Pir Panjal ranges, which connects the Valley to the rest of the country by road,” explains a Northern Railways official.

Digging the tunnels through the mountains was not easy. “It was a real challenge for railway engineers who had never before dealt with the rather strenuous task of laying tracks on a topography that’s so dynamic in nature,” a railway official says.

Perhaps one of the most breathtaking sights on the entire track is the mesmerising view of the Valley as seen from the Gambhir Bridge, which is 77 metre high—higher even than the Qutub Minar.

“I have been travelling daily on this train for almost two years now yet I never tire of seeing the view from up here,” says a passenger. One glance outside and you know what he means. The train seems to be weaving through the clouds.

THE TRACK

The rail line was in the making for two long decades but when the first train finally rolled out of the freshly laid Jammu-Udhampur track, it brought in a new age for an entire generation of Kashmiris. They lined the tracks and cheered as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh “dedicated the rail link to the nation,” on April 13, 2005. Since then, the rail link has become an essential part of the lives of Kashmiri businessmen who finally feel like they are “connected” to the rest of the country. Equally grateful for the rail link, the only one connecting the state to the rest of the nation, are the lakhs of pilgrims who make the arduous journey to Vaishno Devi each year.

“Vaishno Devi is located in Udhampur district in Jammu and before the rail link, the only way to get there was a rather treacherous bus ride from Jammu,” says a Northern Railways official.

Built at a cost of Rs 522 crore, a mere pittance going by the size of the railway kitty today, the project was incessantly delayed due to “lack of funds”.

However, most railway officials concede that even if sufficient funds had been available to them, the incredible geo-technical nature of the sub-mountainous region would have ensured that the rail link took as long as it did to be ready. A technical study on the design features of the track prepared by the then Deputy Chief Engineer (Construction) of Northern Railways, V.K. Duggal categorically stated, “Construction of the Jammu-Udhampur-Baramulla new rail link is the biggest and perhaps the most difficult project undertaken by the Indian Railways in the mountainous terrain since Independence.”

THE PEOPLE

Much like Mumbai’s local rail tracks, the Jammu-Udhampur rail link has given a boost to Jammu’s economy. Businessmen who live in Udhampur use any one of the five trains that ply on this track daily to get to Jammu where they have set shop. “I travelled from Udhampur to Jammu everyday by road before the track was laid but it’s a rather dangerous drive to make and over the past three years I have only be travelling by train,” says Pawan Mehra, a gold merchant who has been shuttling between Jammu and Udhampur daily for the last eleven years. “The track is a lifeline to us businessmen who need to commute daily,” Mehra says.

The track has come as a blessing for students too. “Most of the educational institutes are located in Jammu and before the track was laid, it was difficult for students to commute between Udhampur and Jammu. Now, however, many of us who live in Udhampur, travel to different colleges in Jammu every day,” says Luckey Jamwal, an MBA student at KAWA Institute in Jammu.
So, the daily crowds start flocking at the station early. The first train departs from Udhampur at 6.45 in the morning. They park their motorcycles, and bicycles at the Udhampur station, hop onto the train and set out to seek a living or an education. Some complain that there is no reliable public transport that links the main Udhampur city to the station. “Not all of us have bikes and in the absence of a bus service from the city to the station it sort of dampens the entire purpose of the rail track,” says Sudesh Kumar, an employee at the Government Medical College in Jammu.

Almost 2,000 passengers travel on this line daily. During the pilgrimage season, Northern Railways runs special trains on the route to accommodate the rush of devotees making their way to Vaishno Devi.

Now the repeat this in the north-east.

[SarafIndian]

Originally Posted by kronik

Today's Sunday Indian Express has a whole page special on the Jammu-Baramulla Line. The paper has more pictures and more text, unfortunately, not all is on the website.

THE CONNECTING TRAIN

Now the repeat this in the north-east.

Bravo and Cool.. India has shown if required she can penetrate the Himalaya by her own.

Yes this experience would definitely benefit the North-East.

[Luckystreak]

Originally Posted by kronik

Today's Sunday Indian Express has a whole page special on the Jammu-Baramulla Line. The paper has more pictures and more text, unfortunately, not all is on the website.

[kronik]

Excellent!

Imagine, its gonna go all the way to the border! Maybe they should build a few arterial tracks coming out of this one. Is it possible to take a track somewhere into Ladakh region?

[Arul Murugan]

Trail run to Srinagar in newly laid tracks



SOurce: Dinakaran Tamil daily

[skganji]

Will the pro-pakistani fanatic leaders in the Valley appreciate it or denounce it and try to blow it up using the Jihadi terrorists ?. Any way, excellent updates on this project. Hope Udhampur-Katra link will be operational by August.

[MxC]

Originally Posted by Arul Murugan

Trail run to Srinagar in newly laid tracks



SOurce: Dinakaran Tamil daily

I'm so glad to see a train running in Kashmir I really hope the full link will be completed very soon so that we can have direct links to the valley from rest of India.

@kronik: I full agree with your suggestion of laying down a couple of arterial tracks from the main route. It will definitely help further the troubled region to get assimilated with mainstream India, and help lean the populace from terrorism.

[MxC]

As a side observation, from the limited view in this pic, the Srinagar station doesn't look good considering especially that it's a new construction. Aren't there any additional pics somewhere that show this and other stations on the new rail line?

[MxC]

I was trying to find a video of the kashmir rail link, and found the following:


I am not sure if this video was already shared on this forum. If yes, it will not harm to see it again, else enjoy!

[SarafIndian]

Photo by karnail

Taken on April 22, 2007

Track being laid down in Katra Valley.
image hosted on flickr

[bhopalus]

so how exactly do they expect to protect this thing from terrorism? it's friggin long