Kashmiris gaze in wonder as train chugs on road

Srinagar, Nov 9: ''Is this the train?'' asked 72-year-old Hajra Begum as she looked agape at two rail coaches being pulled by a trailer-truck and chugging on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway on its way to the Badgam yard for being placed on the track.

Hajra Begum is among several hundred Kashmiris who have never seen a train in their lifetime. In fact, she has never come out of her village.

Today early morning, Hajra Begum along with her neighbours and relatives had lined up on both sides of the road at Lethpora, a small hamlet lying on the national highway in Pulwama district of south Kashmir, to see this ''unbelievable sight''.

''We had heard that the train would be passing through our village early in the morning. I was so excited to see the train that I finished all the household chores immediately after morning prayers at dawn to be ready to see this rare spectacle,'' she said.

''I have only heard about the trains from my grandsons who go out of the state for their livelihood during winters. They had asked me several times to accompany them, but I don't want to leave my house at the fag end of my life....I want to die here only,'' she added.

And 77-year-old Ghulam Mohammad of the same village was struck by surprise. Though having visited Srinagar and other areas of Kashmir during his lifetime, he had never gone out of the Valley and has no desire to do so.

''I knew that the train is coming to Kashmir and will make the distance between Jammu and Srinagar easier and shorter. But, I had never heard that the train would chug on the road. That is why when my friends told me that the train would pass through our village, I was surprised and wondered how it was possible,'' he said.

Ghulam Mohammad had made himself comfortable on the roadside and did not allow anybody to block his view to watch the Indian Railways perform the first of its kind exercise in its history.

And as Joginder Singh, the driver of the trailer-truck, steered the vehicle pulling the two train coaches towards Srinagar, Ghulam Mohammad waved at him vigorously with his gnarled hands.

''This is incredible. Now, I have come to know how the train was chugging on the road and not on the track,'' he said after seeing the coaches fitted with tyres being pulled by a trailer-truck.

Hundreds of residents of Lethpora and several other villages along the national highway, who had gathered early this morning, were dumbfounded to see this unique and incredible spectacle.

For the people of Kashmir and the Indian Railways, it is a dream come true. It was after decades of wait that a train has finally reached Kashmir, but they have to wait for some more time before it actually starts running on iron wheels or rail tracks.

To meet the deadline of February next year for a train to start running in Kashmir, the Northern Railways was faced with a tough task of transporting about eight coaches to the Valley. Railway engineers had suggested three ways for transporting coaches to Kashmir. Firstly, it was decided to transport these in a dismantled state, where these could be later assembled. However, it could not be done because of technical reasons.

Secondly, it was proposed to airlift the coaches. However, the idea was promptly shelved because there is no plane in the country, which can carry train coaches and engines. Finally, it was decided to transport the coaches, each 23 meters long, through road.

It was finally decided to replace the iron wheels with special rubber truck wheels and take the coaches/DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) through the 300-km Jammu-Srinagar highway.

In all 24 coaches -- two at a time -- plus two diesel engines will be transported from Jammu to Kashmir for running regular train services there from February 2007. The train would first run between Raj Winsher in the central Kashmir district of Badgam and Awantipora in south Kashmir's Pulwama district.

Once the coaches reach the railway yard at Badgam in central Kashmir, their truck tyres will again be replaced by iron wheels for their normal run on rail tracks.

Roads had been widened by cutting the corners wherever needed for the movement of this special vehicle fitted with 32-truck wheels and pulled by a 460-horse power and ten-wheel Volvo engine.

The Railway was spending about Rs 15 lakh on the transportation of each coach to the valley and a leading transport company of the country was given the job.

The trailer-truck had left for Srinagar from Jammu on October 31 and reached here after travelling for nine days at a speed of about 10 km per hour. It had crossed the 2.5 km Jawahar tunnel on Tuesday.

The tyres were deflated before the Jawahar tunnel to enable the coaches to pass through it because these were higher by six inches.

After crossing the tunnel, the tyres were again pumped with air.

With this successful trial run of a broad-gauge rail coach/DMU on the road and not the rail track, a new chapter has been added in the history of Indian Railways. The transportation of the trial coach is part of the massive Jammu-Udhampur-Qazigund-Srinagar-Baramulla national rail project of Rs 4700 crore aimed at connecting the Kashmir valley with the railway network of mainland India. The project is managed by a professional organisation IRCON.

In 1982, the Centre had given a green signal to construct a 287-km-long rail line between Jammu Tawi in Jammu to Baramulla in the Kashmir valley. To ensure that the work on the ambitious project was carried out speedily without any resource crunch, the Centre had declared it a National Rail Project.

However, laying railway lines in Jammu and Kashmir, situated in the midst of the Himalayan mountain chain, was not easy and as the Railways started constructing the tracks as a separate project.

Initially, rail lines were constructed from Jammu Tawi to Udhampur, which has now become operational. By February next year, Katra, the base camp for Vaishno Devi pilgrims, will also be linked through the rail route.

However, the 148-km area from Katra to Qazigund lies in the Pir Panjal mountain ranges through which flows the turbulent Chenab and Ajni Khad rivers. As part of the project, the world's highest rail bridges have to be built on these rivers. It also includes construction of the country's longest tunnel -- 11.429-km-long -- in Pir Panjal. This is likely to be completed in 2008.

Construction is being carried out on the 119-km-long rail line between Qazigund and Baramulla in the Valley, and this is relatively easier. Rail lines have already been laid from Kakapura to Badgam via Srinagar. A train yard has also been constructed in Badgam for starting the train service from there.

UNI