Jammu, Jun 8 (IANS): Old Jammu Railway Station at Bikram Chowk in the heart of Jammu city will be developed as heritage site under Smart City Project.

Divisional Commissioner (Div Com) Jammu Raghav Langer on Tuesday said that the government is planning to develop historical Bikram Chowk Railway Station as a heritage site to attract tourists visiting the City of Temples.

He was on a visit to the site of the Railway station which was built in 1897 but was abandoned after the partition as the railway link to Sialkot was broken.

The Div Com assessed the renovation requirements and issued instructions for starting the preliminary work to materialize the restoration plan.

"Development of new attractions and up-gradation and improvement of the existing infrastructure for promotion of tourism is one of the priority sectors of the government", the Div Com said.

During the visit, the Div Com along with other officers took a round of various blocks of the heritage station and observed that different landmarks and remnants are still available at the site.

He said the railway station has a historical and heritage significance and extraordinary efforts should be made for restoring its past grandeur. He said that the refurbishment of the railway station would add another dimension to the Heritage Tourism in Jammu and Kashmir.

He directed the concerned officers to go through the pictures available of the historic railway station as it had existed earlier, so that it is restored to its pristine glory.

Pertinently, the old Jammu railway station was on the Jammu Sialkot Line which had train services from Jammu to Sialkot (vice-versa) by passing through R S Pura, Miran Sahib and Suchetgarh.