Udhampur-Baramulla rail track as 'Project of National importance'

Jammu, Aug 27 (UNI) With a view to connecting Kashmir valley with rest of the country, the Union Government has declared the Udhampur-Baramulla Railway Project as 'a Project of National importance' (PNI) that should be completed on priority basis, sources said here today.

To construct the state-of-the-art rail tunnels with ventilation, monitoring device, control room for safe operation in the challenging terrain between Udhampur to Baramulla, the ministry of railways would constitute a four-member committee to formulate the policy guidelines, sources added.

According to the sources, the committee would study various practices both in electrified and non-electrified rail tunnels in India and other parts of the world and would suggest various aspects of working in them so as to enhance passenger safety and comfort including operation and maintenance strategy.

The committee would study various monitoring devices installed in the tunnels and control room for same operations and identify the best suited system for the project. It would then interact with consultants and agencies of the world that specialised in ventilation, to identify the most appropriate technology for Indian conditions, they said.

''The committee will also share the experience of different world railways in maintaining these tunnels, to understand the operational and maintenance needs, the infrastructure requirements and also to study various guidelines of International Union of Railways (UIC) on the subject,'' they said in a release.

The committee would also study the measures being adopted for relief and rescue operations in case of fire, accidents and disaster inside the tunnel, they said.

With a view to provide an alternative and a reliable transportation system to Jammu and Kashmir, Union Government had planned a 345-km-long railway line joining the Kashmir valley with the Indian Railway network, they said mentioning about the rail link between Jammu and Udhampur that had been opened to public since April 2005.

According to sources, Executive Director of Railway Board Engineer Energy Management Sudhir Kumar will be the convener of the committee. Chief electrical engineer&construction (J and K) R K Chowdhary, Deputy chief engineer&construction, Northern railway B P Awasthi, and Director (Safety) Sanjay Kubba would function as members of the committee which would submit its report by the end of November.

UNI