Over one-third of the 95-km-long tunnelling work for linking Katra in Jammu region to Banihal, the gateway to Kashmir valley, has been completed, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said in his rail budget today.
Despite difficult terrain and uncertain geology, work on Katra-Banihal section of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project is progressing satisfactorily and 35 km of tunnelling, out of total of 95 km has been completed successfully, he said.
Besides this, he said decongestion work on the Jalandhar- Jammu line, an important link to the valley, is going on in full swing.
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"Doubling of two bridges will be commissioned by March 2016, while the other two bridges will be completed by 2016-17," Prabhu said.
The railway link, connecting the Kashmir Valley with rest of the country, was initiated in 1983 but it gained momentum only during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, which declared it as a national project.
So far, Jammu has been linked to Katra (78-km) while Baramulla in North Kashmir has been linked with 112-km in South with Banihal, where the famous Jawahar tunnel is located.
The work on the prestigious 148-km link, which connects Katra with Banihal, has been in progress and several tunnels are being made in the Peer Panjal range. The work is expected to be completed by 2020.
