Zubair Qureshi
Srinagar, Sep 17 (IANS): The Kashmir Valley will cross another milestone this Gandhi Jayanti on October 2 when J&K's first electric train will start moving on the 137 km Banihal-Baramulla corridor, according to officials of the Indian Railway Construction Limited.
The J&K government, Indian Railways and Indian Railway Construction Limited have been working together on this project since August 2019.
The inspection of the project will be done on September 26 and the project will be inaugurated on October 2. An official put the project cost at 324 crore, adding that the Budgam-Baramulla section is already complete while the Budgam-Banihal corridor will be inspected and inaugurated on September 26.
The total route length for electrification is 137.73 km with three main sub-stations at Qazigund, Budgam and Baramulla, from where power will be supplied to the overhead equipment of the rail line.
The project is aimed at reducing pollution. It will also save 60 per cent fuel consumption.
Along with this, the work to connect Banihal with Katra is also going on. When the Katra-Banihal link is complete, Kashmir will be better connected to the rest of the country.
A local named Muhammad Ramzan said that this is an important step that will help J&K join the ranks of other developed states where modern facilities are available.
It may be recalled that Kashmir got its first train service in 2013 when it was inaugurated by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.