Dr Sudershan Kumar
In these modern eras, the railway connectivity has been a bastion of development, fostering growth for any developed nation. Since the advent of Rail Transport in early 19th century, railways have played a pivotal role in economic growth, regional integration and social development. As a cost-effective and efficient mode of transportation, rail network facilitates trade, boosts industrialization, create employment opportunities and enhance accessibility to remote areas. This also reduces logistics cost, making goods more affordable and competitive in both domestic and international market. Many of World’s largest economies such as U.S.A, China and Germany have heavily invested in their rail-road infrastructure to augment trade and economic productivity. Besides, high speed rail system such as those in Japan and Europe have demonstrated the potential of rail connectivity in providing eco-friendly and efficient alternatives for both passenger and freight transport. Further in South Korea the impact of rail and road connectivity and industrial infrastructure in development of economy for upliftment of its people is clearly evident. With regard to India, year 1832 saw the establishment of rails, with an idea of setting up a railway network in British India, however ironically at that time, the rail travel in Britain was still in its infancy. But East India Company was well acquainted with the benefits of developing rail network in India. In 1844, Lord Harding, the then Governor General of British India allowed two private entrepreneurs namely East India Railway Company and Great Indian Peninsula Railway to develop rail network in India. The first passenger train ran between Bori Bunder (New Mumbai) and Thane. The distance was 34 Kms. It was operative by three Locomotives namely Sultan, Sahib and Sindh and had three carriages. It carried nearly 400 passengers. Prior to that, in 1835 the railway track was constructed between Red Hills and Chintadripet in Madras (now Chennai) and became operational in 1837. The rotary steam engines were imported from England and used for ferrying granite. The rail network of about 14500 Kms was developed by 1880 around the three major cities Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta. In the year 1901, Railway Board was formed. Since then, various efforts were made to spread rail net across whole of India before and after Independence. As on date, Indian Railway is the state owned enterprise that is organized as a department undertaking by Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates Indian’s National Railway with track length around 132310 Kms with more than 1.2 million employees. India has the fourth largest rail network with over 22593 trains with daily passengers count being 24 million and 203.88 million tonnes. On November 4, 2024, Indian Railway carried over 30 million passengers in a single day. It is also a world’s 9th largest employer and India’s second largest employer. Over the last ten years, Indian Railways have shown a fascinating journey of immense progress and transformation. Nearly 31000 Km track length has been added. In Jammu and Kashmir the efforts were made first to connect Kashmir valley with Jammu during the reign of Maharaja Pratap Singh. Connecting Kashmir to Jammu has been a daunting task , in lieu of the inhospitable terrain. Subsequently, projects to build sixty miles of light railway from Jammu to Srinagar and seventy nine miles long mono steel cable way from Jammu to Dora Shahabad did not come to fruition due to in-exorbitant cost and inhospitable terrain of Pir Panjal Ranges. However, in 1890 Jammu to Sialkot (the than Punjab province of British India), became first rail line in erstwhile princely state of Jammu-Kashmir. In Jammu, railway station was located near Bikram Chowk. This railway line ran till 15 September, 1947. But after Independence this line fell into despair. Being well aware of the mountainous stretches and difficult terrain especially the fragile mountainous stretch in Pir Panjal Ranges, Maharaja Pratap Singh had also a vision of road connectivity in the erstwhile princely state of Jammu-Kashmir. So in the year 1885, he established Public Work Department Road and Building (PWD, R&B). This department was supervised by two British Engineers. The first road in J&K was the Jhelum Valley Road which connected Baramulla with Kohala. The road was completed in the year 1890. The Banihal Cart Road (BC Road) which connected Srinagar with Jammu was started in the year 1901 and opened to traffic in the year 1921. Till date this is the most crucial link between Jammu and Srinagar with fragile mountainous stretches and Pir Panjal Ranges. It is an arduous journey making it difficult to be maintained for vehicular traffic in rainy and peak winter season. On many occasions trucks and vehicles get stranded because of landslides and heavy snow fall. Therefore for economic development and upliftment of the people in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the rail connectivity was considered to be absolutely imperative. Therefore, after Independence the efforts were made by Government of India to establish rail link between Jammu & Kashmir and rest of India. The first rail link between Jammu and Pathankot was initiated in the year 1965 after Indo-Pak war and completed in the year 1971 and opened to traffic in October 1972. In the year 1981 the then Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi laid the foundation stone for rail link between Jammu and Udhampur which missed several deadlines due to numerous reasons. In the year 1994, the than Union Minister Jaffer Sharief announced new rail line UBRL (Udhampur Baramulla Rail Link) with Jammu-Udhampur section included in that for linking Kashmir Valley with Jammu and rest of India. This rail link was divided into four sections namely; Leg 0: Jammu-Udhampur, Leg 1: Udhampur-Katra, Leg 2: Katra-Banihal, Leg 3: Banihal-Baramulla. Leg 0, Leg 1, Leg 3 were completed in the year 2005, 2014 and 2013 respectively. But the Leg 2 Katra-Banihal remained a big bone of contention in the history of Indian Railways. The reasons being, hostile geological condition, inhospitable terrain. It is worth mentioning here that complete stretch is covered with small hills, mountains of Peer Panjal ranges and rivulets. This 111 Km rail line was completed by Modi Government on 23rd December, 2024. This can also be considered as a triumph of Modi Ji’s vision against the adverse geological conditions, rocky mountains and harsh environment. The construction of 30 tunnels, 68 bridges especially the arc bridge at the height of 359 meters on river Chenab at Bakal (in Reasi district) and cable bridge at Anji khad Bridge at Reasi is a state of art piece of innovative and marvelous engineering design of present time, which the countrymen should feel proud of. This expansion of railway track connectivity to Kashmir valley will certainly mark tranformative milestone in India’s infrastructural and economic development. The long awaited rail link bridging the region with rest of the country, is not just about enhancing transport accessibility, it represents a catalyst for solid economic growth, tourism expansion and regional integration. It is also a symbol of progress, promising to redefine mobility strengthen trade and uplift the local population by providing seamless access to new opportunities in many ways.
Enhancing connectivity and integration: Kashmir’s challenging terrain and harsh weather conditions made connectivity a persistent issue, isolating it in winter months. With the establishment of the UBRL rail link the year around access now is becoming a reality. This development will reduce travel time, enhance safety and make mobility more efficient to residents business and tourists. This will also foster national unity by strengthening Kashmir connection with rest of Indian states.
Boosting Economic Growth: – This rail link will now set to provide a significant boost to Kashmir’s economy by opening new avenues for trade and commerce. Farmers and artisan, who probably faced logistical challenges in transporting their goods can access broader markets with reduced cost and increased efficiency.
Promoting Tourism: – This railway link will change the scenario by offering convenient affordable travel alternative encouraging more domestic and international tourists to visit the region. This increased tourism will lead to higher demand for hotels and restaurants and boosting hospitality industry.
Employment opportunities: Railway project itself has created the job opportunities for thousand of people during its construction phase and it will continue to support employment in maintenance and operation and ancillary service from engineers to station staff and vendors. The railway network is the source of livelihood for many directly and indirectly improving the economic conditions.
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