Early Times Report
Jammu, Nov 24: The direct rail connectivity to Katra, the base camp of holy cave shrine of Goddess Vaishno Devi has missed yet another deadline of October 2013, for commissioning due to delay in completion of 25KM-long Udhampur-Katra Rail track.
No new deadline has been set for opening of the track. The officers of the Northern Railways are tightlipped over the reasons behind the delay.
The Department started giving deadlines from middle of 2012, but due to multiple reasons Northern Railway has delayed the project up to October 2013 and now again the department has missed the deadline.
R. N. Meena, Divisional Traffic Manager said, "Only the construction department can give the exact reason and next deadline to start Udhampur -Katra Rail Link." "We are eagerly waiting for their clearance so that we can start trains on Udhampur-Katra Rail Track," he added. M. B. Azad, Executive Engineer Construction Department said, "I don't have the actual status of the track, however the lighting was being done in the tunnels between Udhampur-Katra track." "I cannot comment on the next deadline, only the Commissioner of Railways Safety (CRS) can comment on this,"
The Northern Railway still awaits the final clearance from its Commissioner Railway Safety (CRS), which will conduct inspection after the trial run on the section before throwing it open for passenger trains.
There would be three stations viz Udhampur, Chak Rakhwal in Udhampur district and Shri Vaishno Devi Katra on Udhampur-Katra rail link. "Chak Rakhwal station has been set up 9.3 km away from Udhampur station.
The Northern Railway was contemplating to extend Jammu Mail and Sampark Kranti, both Jammu-New Delhi trains, to Katra from Udhampur, Delhi-Pathankot Express from Pathankot to Katra and introduce new trains including Katra-Kalka (Chandigarh) Express (bi-weekly), Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Udhampur Express, (fully air conditioned) and Ahmedabad-Udhampur Express initially to Katra when the track will be made operational. |
