Srinagar: Signaling the expansion of train to further 18-kilometers, the railway authorities Friday carried out a trial run of a coach from Qazigund to Islamabad.
Reports reaching Press Bureau of India said that the 8-boogies reached Qazigund at around 11:35 hours while it left the station at 11:55 hours.
Sources told PBI that the railway link will be officially thrown open in August. They said the Commissioner Railway Safety (CRS) is expected to inspect the line in the first week of the Month and train will later commission the operation after sanctioning the requisite CRS authorization.
With the clarification, the railway in Jammu and Kashmir would cover a distance of 119-km track and would connect Qazigund in south Kashmir with Baramulla. The cost of the Baramulla-Qazigund rail network project is estimated at Rs 3,200 crores.
It took almost nine years to complete the Baramulla-Qazigund rail project, which started in 2000. The Islamabad-Qazigund rail link has about 113 minor and major bridges along the route, the sources said.
The first train in Kashmir was made operational in October 2007 when Prime Minister flagged off the 66-km-long rail line from Islamabad to Mazhom in central Kashmir’s Budgam district.
The railway saw its first expansion by 35-kms with the linking of Mazhom with Baramulla In February this year. The rail track was inaugurated by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. (PBI)
Posted on 31 Jul 2009 by
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