Home Ministry reviews security to train service in Jammu and Kashmir

New Delhi, Sep 13 (UNI) The Home Ministry today reviewed the security of train services in Jammu and Kashmir and deliberated on the measures to improve it.

A high level meeting chaired by Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta was held here on the issue. It was attended by the Special Secretary (Internal Security), the Director General of Police of Jammu and Kashmir and senior officials of the ministries of Home and Railways participated .

The meeting deliberated on the measures to be taken to provide fool proof security to the train service in the Himalayan state. It was crucial in view of the blasts in the Samjhauta Express earlier this year and recent blasts in Hyderabad.

The Indian Railways has an ambitious plan to connect Srinagar with Jammu, and to the rest of the country. Of the proposed 305-kilometer track around 56-kilometer stretch connecting Jammu to Udhampur has been completed so far.

The Centre had approved the 287-km long Jammu-Udhampur- Qazigund-Srinagar-Baramulla National Railway project in Kashmir in 1982 at a cost of around two billion dollars. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flagged off the Jammu-Udhampur stretch in April 2005.

The project got a push in 1995 when it was declared a national project and additional funds were channelised. But, the progress of the project was marred when Islamic militants killed a railway engineer and his brother in June 2004. However, tough terrain and insurgency remained the real challenge for Indian Railways' bid to connect the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country.

UNI