To facilitate pilgrims, a new train service was today flagged off between City of Temples Jammu and the holy city of Haridwar.
The weekly train service was flagged off at Jammu Railway Station by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh through video conferencing from Mumbai and New Delhi respectively.
Addressing the people through video link, Prabhu congratulated them and noted it was a long-pending demand of the people to get a second train connecting the two cities.
Also Read
"It was a long-pending demand of the people of Jammu to have connectivity between the two cities. The Hemkunth express train, that connects Jammu with Haridwar, was not sufficient, hence there was a need for a new train and the demand has been met today," Prabhu said.
Singh said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a vision to provide connectivity to all parts of the country.
"From today, the City of Temples will have connectivity with Haridwar, the Railway ministry has already connected Guwahati with Katra and in the coming days, more such initiatives would be taken," Singh said.
Speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly Kavinder Gupta, MPs Jugal Kishore Sharma, Shamsher Singh Manhas and MLC Ramesh Arora were present at Jammu Railway Station on the occasion.
(Reopens DES 21)
The inaugural Jammu Tawi-Haridwar Weekly Express departed from Jammu at 12.10 PM and is scheduled to reach Haridwar at 10.25 PM today, with enroute stoppages at Pathankot Cant, Jalandhar Cant, Ludhiana, Khanna, Sirhind, Rajpura, Ambala City, Ambala Cant, Jagadhari and Saharanpur stations.
The service will commence from Haridwar on August 21.
The train will depart from Jammu at 10.10 PM on every Sunday to reach Haridwar at 10.25 AM next day while on its return journey, the train will depart from Haridwar at 05.10 PM every Monday to reach Jammu Tawi at 04.00 AM next day.
It consists of one AC 2-Tier coach, three AC 3-Tier, nine sleeper class, five general class and two second class-cum- luggage van coaches.
(Reopens DES28)
Singh also spoke about the plan for setting up a new railway station at Kathua, expansion of Udhampur railway station.
The minister also expressed his satisfaction over the progress in the construction of Railway bridge at Reasi, an official statement said.
He said once the work is complete, the railway link from Jammu to Kashmir will be an illustration for posterity.
