This is music to ears. The railways recently sanctioned the final location survey of five lines including the doubling of the Baramulla-Banihal section (135.5 km), Baramulla-Uri (50 km), Sopore-Kupwara (33.7 km), Awantipora-Shopian (27.6 km) and Anantnag-Pahalgam (77.5 km). These are important railway lines connecting the economically important zone of Kashmir to Jammu and beyond. While the Kashmir valley is still waiting to get connected to the Jammu region through the railway, these arteries are equally important to ferry produce to the main railway line.
The line connecting Baramulla to Uri (50km) and Sopore-Kupwara (33.7km) are two important railway extensions as it make railway travel open to about two million people in the frontier districts. For the people of Kupwara and Uri, this is nothing less than a boon. Almost every area will now have a railway station not more than twenty kilometers away from their homes. Once completed, this would provide true all-weather connectivity to almost every area in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It would be especially great for people dealing with the horticulture industry as the produce can now be ferried all-round the year at minimal charges.
These two lines are also important because the frontier districts Like Baramulla and Kupwara would now be easily accessible to a tourist who travels by train from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi through train. Already a few villages in Kupwara like Keran have become tremendously famous with the public in these states and with railway connectivity they would love to come in droves. This would create a ripple effect in tourism and sooner we will see lots of other villages in north Kashmir on the tourism map of Kashmir.
There are some issues with the Awantipora-Shopian (27.6 km) line as some orchardists have objected to the railway line passing through the village. This railway artery is the most critical one in as far as the economy of Kashmir is concerned. It can help ferry the horticulture produce from Shopian in stipulated time at no cost to the plains of India. We hope the current establishment enters into a series of negotiations with this village and find a way around it.
The current establishment at the center must be thanked for fast-forwarding a lot of proposals when it comes to Kashmir.
