Train coaches enter Kashmir

Jammu, Nov 7 (UNI) The coaches of Indian Railway for the first time entered the Kashmir valley from Jawahar tunnel today, chugging on the National Highway along with trucks and buses.

The train coaches, fitted with 32-truck wheels and pulled by a 10 wheel Volvo engine left from Jammu for Srinagar on October 30, entered the Valley at 1500 hrs after moving inside the three-km-long tunnel.

Thousands of people were waiting on the other side to have a glance of first-ever train in Kashmir, SSP Traffic (National Highway) S K Sharma told UNI.

Coaches are set to chug on the Valley's serpentine tracks in February 2007.

According to Railway officials, eight more bogeys would be ferried from Jammu to Kashmir if the trial run is successful.

This trial run is a part of Rs 4,700 crores Jammu-Udhampur- Qazigund-Srinagar-Baramulla national rail project.

UNI HGV VJ PM RN2230