By Amir Tantray
Jammu/Srinagar:Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the maiden train to Kashmir in the first or second week of February, sources in the Indian Railways told ETV Bharat on Thursday.
The final date for the inauguration is yet to be finalised since the Railways requires a confirmation from the Prime Minister's Office, they said. Prime Minister Modi will flag off the train from Katra, sources confirmed.
"The tentative plan for PM's visit is that on the day of the inauguration, he will land at Jammu airport and fly in a chopper to Chenab bridge, the highest railway bridge in the world. After that he will fly to Katra railway station and will flag off the Vande Bharat train to Kashmir," a source said.
"The PM will also address a rally after flagging off the train and two venues have been shortlisted which include a sports stadium in Katra and Maulana Azad stadium in Jammu," the source added.
Given the formal inauguration of the train service between Katra and Srinagar, a trial run of Vande Bharat train will be conducted on January 24 and 25.
The much-awaited direct train to Kashmir has passed every hurdle and the Commissioner Railway Safety (CRS) of northern railways Dinesh Chand Deshwal has given a green signal to run the train at the maximum speed of 85 km per hour.
During the final trial run of the train, which the CRS monitored himself, the train chugged at the speed of 110 km per hour. The start of a direct train service to Kashmir will benefit J&K whereas trade and tourism of Kashmir valley will also increase.
Goods and fuel that so far are being transported to the valley through the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, will also be taken in cargo trains and the prices of goods will also come down.
The history of railways in Jammu and Kashmir dates to the pre-independence era when in 1890 a train service was started between Jammu and Sialkot (now in Pakistan).
It was only after the 1965 war between India and Pakistan that work started to bring a direct train to Jammu from Punjab. In 1972, the first train Srinagar Express (now Jhelum Express) reached Jammu, and after that other trains also arrived in the winter capital.
In 1981, the Jammu to Udhampur train project was taken up and the foundation stone was laid by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on April 14, 1983. After missing several deadlines, on April 13, 2005, the then PM Manmohan Singh flagged off the train service to Udhampur.
In October 2009, different sections of local train service were started in Kashmir. On July 4, 2014, a direct train service to Katra, the base camp of Mata Vaishno Devi shrine, was also started. That too was flagged off by PM Narendra Modi. (Additional reporting by Moazum Muhammad)
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