Expansion plan for Jammu Tawi station fails to chug off

Amit Khajuria

Tribune News Servce

Jammu, December 5

An overburdened Jammu Tawi railway station is catering to thousands of passengers with more than 50 pairs of trains in three platforms for the last 47 years as its expansion is still stuck in planning.

Despite having ‘Second Entry Project’ ready for last two years, the Railways is yet to start work on it.

The Union Railway Ministry had approved Rs 200 crore for the ‘Second Entry Project’ at the station in 2017 to make it bigger and run more trains.

It was the first expansion proposed after the station’s commencement in 1972, when the first passenger train ‘Srinagar Express’ (now ‘Jhelum Express’) was welcomed by people of Jammu at the railway station. As per the planned project for expansion, the station, which caters more than 25,000 passengers on a daily basis, will be added with four more platforms and another entry will be made from Narwal side with a bigger parking area to reduce the load from the main entry.

But despite having own land, funds and a plan, the authorities are yet to start the project.

According to the sources, the authorities are waiting for the Bari Brahmana project to be completed to start the new project in Jammu Tawi. The Railways is expanding the Bari Brahmana railway station for cargo services, which is expected to be completed by March 2020.

“Though land and funds are not a problem in this project, we need to plan the traffic and utilisation of the three platforms during the expansion work, which is taking time,” said Chetan Taneja, Divisional Traffic Manager (DTM), Railways, Jammu-Pathankot range. “I hope the work will start soon in the next calendar year,” he added.

Four more platforms in the offing 

As per the planned project for expansion, the station, which caters more than 25,000 passengers on a daily basis, will be added with four more platforms and another entry will be made from the Narwal side with a bigger parking area to reduce the load from the main entry.