Mehbooba meets Railway Minister, brings home assurances on cold storage containers, glass-top coaches on Jammu-Katra route

More trains, extension of rail link to Kupwara, Rajouri-Poonch on cards

JAMMU: Panoramic glass-top will no longer remain a privilege limited to luxury car-owners as the government will soon be introducing coaches with transparent roofs in trains plying between Katra to Jammu, followed by specially designed coaches between Banihal-Baramulla rail-route from next spring to promote tourism in the state, besides a number of additional trains connecting the state with different parts of the country.
The government will also be running cold store containers from Jammu to other parts of the country to ferry horticulture produce-especially the apples from the State, and asserted its willingness to accede to demand of extension of rail link to Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu and Kupwara in Kashmir.
These, among many others other important decisions, was agreed upon in a meeting held at New Delhi between Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti and union Railway Minister Piyush Goel here on Tuesday.
Mehbooba who was in national capital on Tuesday, brought several issues of the State pertaining to Railways with the Union Minister, seeking their early redressal.
Early completion of Katra-Banihal section of Jammu-Baramulla railway line to connect the State with rest of the country through an all-weather link remained at the focus of the discussions, besides extension of rail link upto Kupwara in Kashmir and Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu province.
The Union Minister agreeing to Chief Minister's demands issued on the spot instructions to the Railway Ministry for a review and advancement of the completion date of the Katra-Banihal section of the Jammu-Baramulla railway line, while agreeing in principle to the extension of rail link to Kupwara in Kashmir province and Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu province, as he informed Mehbooba Mufti that preliminary survey in this regard has been completed and the project is being examined for funding in the Central Government.
The Union Minister also informed Mehbooba Mufti that Railways would run cold store containers from Jammu to other parts of the country to ferry horticulture produce from the State.
It was agreed upon in the meeting that the Secretary, Horticulture would pursue the matter with the Railway authorities in this regard.
Jammu & Kashmir being a tourist State, Mehbooba Mufti also sought running of more trains from Jammu to Mumbai, Kolkatta and Ahmedabad to get more tourists to the State.
The Union Minister informed her that his Ministry has started a weekly train-Humsafar- from Kolkatta to Jammu in view of the tourist rush from the area. It was decided in the meeting that the Secretary, Tourism and Member, Traffic of the Railway Board would jointly explore the possibilities in this regard.
Piyush Goel assured all support from his Ministry to boost tourism in the State. He also informed the Chief Minister that specially designed trains would soon chug from Jammu to Katra while as such trains would be introduced in Kashmir from next spring.
The demand for extension of rail link, it may be mentioned here, came during frequent visits Chief Minister conducted of Kupwara and Pir Panchal areas.
The Chief Minister also raised other issues like giving employment to locals by IRCON, a halt station at Naina Batpora, expediting work on other halt stations on the Banihal-Baramulla railway line and transfer back of land at Banihal for constructing a stadium there.
The Union Minister assured the Chief Minister of a positive approach and substantive action by his Ministry on the demands raised by the Chief Minister.