Slowly, but still on track for a Valley train

Labourers are needed for linking the tracks as well as manning the machines. “There is no threat, but the labourers didn’t want to continue. So at present we have a shortage of skilled labourers trained in track linking. We are doing whatever we can with the local labour. At present we are doing the fabrication,” said the official. The approaching winter and the festival season are also keeping the labourers away.

“We have not abandoned work in the Valley and are hopeful of meeting our 2010 deadline,” said a senior official of IRCON, the agency responsible for the Valley link.

In fact, at a meeting between Governor N N Vohra and Railway officials on September 17, IRCON had asked the Government for more security along the stretch. It has asked for 100 more PSOs as well as new placements for the CRPF men. The Kashmir rail link is being guarded by 10 companies of CRPF and about 100 PSOs at present.

A major part of the work—about 70 km—has been completed in the first two phases of the 119-km Qazigund-Baramulla stretch. Officials are also hopeful that the work on the third phase would start soon. Track fitting has been completed from Anantnag in South to Rajwansher, Tangmarg in North Kashmir.

Work is also progressing on the Qazigund-Banihal stretch, which includes a 11-km underground tunnel cutting through the Pir Panjal mountain range—the natural barricade cutting off the Valley from the rest of India. Once completed, it will become the longest railway tunnel in Asia. With work underway from both sides, about 40 per cent of the work has been completed.