Banihal, June 26: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi Wednesday flagged off the first train connecting Banihal in Jammu with Qazigund in Kashmir.
The PM along with Gandhi boarded the eight-coach train decorated with flowers and took a journey from Banihal Railway Station to Qazigund across the Pir Panchal mountain range. A group of students travelled along with them.
Singh had an interaction with the students during the journey while the train chugged through the 11-kilometer Pir Panchal railway tunnel, the longest in India, and part of the 17.7 kilometer Qazigund-Banihal railway track.
Addressing a public gathering on this occasion, Prime Minister said New Delhi was committed to development of Jammu and Kashmir in every sphere and the railway network would help develop the state. “I want to assure people of Jammu and Kashmir that center will extend all possible support for the development of the state,” Singh said.
He said the 17.7 kilometer Qazigund-Banihal rail link which includes 11 kilometer Pir Panchal railway tunnel, the longest tunnel in India would help develop Jammu and Kashmir. “This will usher in a new era in the development of the state, providing welfare and employment to the people,” he said.
He described the project as the “dream of the nation”, the foundation of which was laid in 1983 by the then Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi.
The Prime Minister said Kashmir railway project was part of the effort of the UPA Government to develop and connect J&K with outside world.
In 2005 Singh inaugurated the Jammu-Udhampur section of the rail link and in 2008 and 2009 he inaugurated 119 kilometer Qazigund-Baramulla rail link.
The Prime Minister detailed the achievements made under the Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Program (PMRP) announced by him in 2004 on his visit to the State.
Of 67 projects undertaken under PMRP 37 have so far been completed and rest of the projects were under various stages of completion, he said.
Singh said widening of Khannabal-Pahalgam and Narbal-Tangmarg roads, establishment of 14 new degree colleges, 9 ITIs, up gradation of Srinagar airport to international standards, modernization of J&K Police, Creation of 12 Tourist Development Authorities in the State were part of the Reconstruction plan.
Additionally, he said, projects worth Rs 1000 crore were undertaken in Jammu and Ladakh regions to address their specific needs.
Referring to the recently launched Umeed and Himayat programs in the State, Singh said these programs were showing encouraging results on the ground.
He said the special scholarship scheme for JK students was aimed to bring them at par with their counterparts in rest of India.
Tracing the history of rail in the State, the Prime Minister said the project was conceived in 1898 by the then Maharaja Pratap Singh.
Later, he said, Indira Gandhi took the ambitious project to bring rail to Kashmir in hand in 1983. “Since then it has gone through a long journey of completion,” Singh said.
The Minister for Railways, Mallikarjun Kharge dwelt in detail about the history of Railways in India since April 16, 1853. He said currently 19000 trains run on 64000 kilometers daily all across the country ferrying about 2.30 crore passengers daily.
The Union Minister said that with the start of Qazigund-Baramulla rail link in 2009, the state has witnessed a turn-around with more economic activity and social connectivity. He hoped the State would benefit further with its extension to Banihal.
Governor, NN Vohra, Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad, State Congress President Prof Saif-u-Din Soz, AICC Incharge J&K Affairs Ambika Soni, National Conference’s Dr Mehboob Beg and others were present on the occasion.
Earlier, during his journey on the train, Prime Minister interacted with students of a local school who were on board.
Singh asked one of the girl students seated next to him whether she had travelled by train earlier, to which she replied in the negative.
UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi was seated a couple of rows behind the Prime Minister and was seen chatting with the students.
The train travel by Singh and Gandhi was being planned for almost a week and was kept under the wraps for security reasons.
Singh and Gandhi boarded the train after the flagging off ceremony at Banihal this afternoon. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge were also in the train.
“We had a brief interaction with the Prime Minister,” a class 12 student Saba told media persons.
“We were excited to talk to him and we told him that our school has no playground and laboratory,” Saba said.
Earlier Governor NN Vohra, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Union Minister of Railways Mallikarjun Kharge, Union Minister for Health Ghulam Nabi Azad and President State Congress Saifuddin Soz were also on board the eight-coach train that reduced the distance between Qazigund and Banihal.
HIGHLIGHTS OF NEW RAIL LINK
The section between Banihal in Jammu and Qazigund in Kashmir is 18 KMs long
Banihal-Qazigund section includes 11km long tunnel across Pir Panchal
range – India’s longest, 2nd longest in Asia
Banihal-Qazigund section will link already operational 118-km-long route between Qazigund and Baramulla to the rest of the country
3-metre wide road has been provided inside the tunnel for maintenance and relief and rescue operations in the event of any eventuality
Tunnel has been made water-proof and it is equipped with state-of-the-art air quality monitoring, communications, fire-fighting and emergency rescue systems
Eight coach trains will run between Banihal and Baramulla from June 27
Banihal-Baramulla-Banihal train will make five trips daily beginning at 7.10 am from Banihal and 7.35 am from Baramulla
Q-B section will reduce
the distance from 35 km (by road) to 18 km
Rail link constructed at
a cost of Rs 1,691 crore
Lastupdate on : Wed, 26 Jun 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 26 Jun 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 27 Jun 2013 00:00:00 IST
Das Kashmir Railway Projekt
 Indiens Ministerpräsident Manmohan Singh und Sonia Gandhi, die Präsidentin der indischen Kongresspartei, haben am 26. Juni den Pir-Panjal Tunnel im indischen Bundesstaat Jammu und Kashmir offiziell eröffnet. Der 11,215 km lange Tunnel ist Teil eines 17,7 km langen Teilstücks der Kashmir Railway, das Banihal in der Region Jammu mit Qazigund in der Region Kashmir verbindet. Der Tunnel unter dem Pir-Panjal Gebirgszug ist der längste Eisenbahntunnel Indiens und der drittlängste Asiens. Durch den Tunnel wird erstmals eine wetterunabhängige Verbindung Kashmirs mit dem Rest Indiens gewährleistet. Der Tunnel wurde mit australischer Tunneltechnik seit 2009 durch den Berg getrieben und verfügt über ein dem neusten Stand der Technik entsprechendes Luftüberwachungssystem und moderne Rettungssysteme.
Die Kashmir Railway verfügt damit jetzt über ein Strecke von 118 km, die von Banihal über Srinagar bis nach Barammulla im Norden des indisch verwalteten Kashmirs reicht. Für den Anschluss an das restliche indische Eisenbahnnetz durch die noch im Bau befindliche Verbindung von Banihal mit Udhampur in der Region Jammu ist trotz einer Bauzeit von inzwischen elf Jahren nicht vor dem Jahr 2017 zu rechnen, was Kritik an der großen Eröffnung des Tunnels hervorgebracht hat, da er verkehrstechnisch noch von sehr geringer Bedeutung ist.