Railways examining alternative route between Katra, Banihal

New Delhi, April 17

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The Railways is examining the suggestions of the Sreedharan Committee on realignment of route between Katra and Banihal as part of the final leg of the Kashmir rail link project.

“The Sreedharan Committee has suggested for realignment in the Kashmir rail link project. Lot of issues are involved here, the committee was constituted on a High Court order,” Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said here today.

The Committee had suggested that the signature bridge on river Chenab, a critical section on the rail link to the Kashmir Valley between the 126-km long Katra and Banihal was not safe during earthquakes, landslides and also due to its proximity to the Line of Control (LoC).

“The report has examined both the alignments, the existing and the alternative ones. Both have merits and demerits. The suggestions were being deliberated by Railway Board and a final call would be taken at an appropriate time,” Chairman Railway Board A K Mital added.

The alternative route, as per the Committee’s report, is shorter and has straighter alignment of 70 km cutting through the mountain ranges, shifting the location of Chenab bridge from the gorge to the floor of the valley.

On the Debroy Committee report, Prabhu said “the report is interim one and we will take a decision once the committee submits its the final report.”

When asked about introduction of new trains, the Railway Minister said, “we will introduce new train to cater to the requirement of the people. The exercise to examine the requirement is going on and we will launch new trains accordingly.”

On finance, Prabhu said “whatever is our requirement for the current fiscal that is about Rs 16,800 crore is taken care of.”

As far as requirements of coming years is concerned, we have identified the resources for it, he said, adding we have made an arrangement with LIC for getting fund for the next five years.

He, however, said there will not be any unnecessary borrowing. “Whenever there will be requirement we will go for borrowing. Borrowing money for the sake of borrowing will not be done.”

He also mentioned about the infrastructure bond to be made available for railways and Railway bond is also an option.

On the issue of outsourcing, Mital said “outsourcing is being done only in non-core and non-safety areas like cleanliness, onboard housekeeping services on trains are outsourced. But anything with our core activities we will not be outsourced.”

Prabhu said whatever announcements made in the rail Budget would be fully implemented.

He said a monitoring software is being developed to monitor projects. — PTI