M A I N   N E W S

Their wait for train ends after 21 years
S. P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

Udhampur, March 27
Residents of tiny hamlets on hilly terrain between Jammu and Ghambhir (Udhampur) came out of their mud houses today to see the train they were waiting for the past 21 years.

This was a trial run of a train which had top officers of the Northern Railway (NR) and mediapersons that went up to the Ghambhir nullah where the tallest girder railway bridge in the country (72 metres above the riverbed) is being laid. The first material train to test the track was expected to be run between Jammu and Udhampur on Baisakhi and the NR officers hope to make the 54-km-long route operational by the end of April or early May.

The railways earlier announced that the route would be made operational on March 25, but the work on the Ghambhir bridge delayed the project by a few days.

Whistle of the train was a dream come true for villagers whose villages are far away from the road. Beaming with joy, Chuni Lal, a resident of Pathwar village, said that it was fortunate that he had seen in his lifetime a train running through the hamlet having 60 houses.

Work on the rail link started on April 14,1983 at an estimated cost of Rs 50 crore, but due to delay the cost escalated to Rs 510 crore. The project got push in 1995 when it was declared a national project and fund allotment was increased.

General Manager of the NR, R.R. Jaruhar, said that the rail link was challenging one. The rail line was being extended up to Baramula in the northern end of Kashmir.

He said that care for the safety of the track had been taken as the area fell in the seismic zone 4 and two fault zones cross through the rail link.

Mr Jaruhar said the highest embankment of 42 metres had been constructed shortly ahead of Jammu. The Ghambhir bridge presented a challenge from the foundation stage itself. A crack in the earth was detected when the foundation was commenced and SONAR tests confirmed that the fault continued up to great depth and the foundation had to be relocated.

Out of the total length of 54.85 km, 10.28 km of the track lies in tunnels and 5.16 km on bridges. There are 51 bridges and 11 tunnels, the longest being 2.5 km.

Mr Jaruhar said that work had been started on the next phase of the project between Udhampur to Katra. Ten km of tunnels would be built on the 25 km route. The world’s highest railway bridge (90 metres) would be constructed on the Jhajjar Nullah.

Mr Sudhir Awasthy, IGP, NR, said police would be deployed on the Jammu-Udhampur section, as the area was terrorism prone. The police would be deployed at vulnerable bridges and tunnels.