30 Minutes: Train to Kashmir, a century in the making

MAKING HISTORY: The Indian Railways is trying to build a bridge, six times taller than the Qutub Minar, over the Chenab.

        

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

Television, for politicians with a vision

Featured Slideshows

Related Headlines

powered by

• Militant's diary reveals plot to blow J&K rail link
• Exclusive: Militants' diaries reveal J&K terror plot
• Railways set to chug into Kashmir

Keywords: Militancy, Rail Link

It's a project that's been a century in the making - a train from Udhampur in Jammu to Baramulla in Kashmir, through mountains and across valleys, for close to 300 kilometres. It is a train whose makers hope it will reduce conflict, create jobs, and finally connect Kashmir to the rest of India. In the next 30 minutes, CNN-IBN will you take you on a journey cutting across the Pir Panjal range right into the heart of the Valley. A journey of difficult terrains, chronic deadlocks and of a dream trying to triumph it all. It is a journey on the Train to Kashmir. Read on...

Reasi District: Sudhir Singh Slathia has his work cut out. The stretch from Katra to Qazigund is the most difficult section of the Kashmir rail link and as construction engineer, Slathia has one of the most challenging jobs. He has to bore Rail Tunnel Number 5 through part of the mighty Pir Panjal range.

The darkness there hides many perils like fragile soil, seeping waters and an unpredictable mountain.

The strata is loose. The water seepage strata is young and we have a lot of difficulty. There are also more challenges like all the workers getting wet. We can't drill through properly," says Slathia.

Three-quarters of the line from Katra to Qazigund will pass through tunnels. The Kashmir rail link has been under construction since 1994, but work started in earnest only in 2001, when it was declared a National Priority Project, to be funded by the Centre.

Geological Problems

When architects like Executive Director Konkan Railways, Vinod Kumar arrived in 2004, they faced hostile mountains, and inaccessible tunnel sites. That's when they realised that before there could be a track, there had to be a road.

Kumar says, "It's a difficult task but not impossible. It is a fight against nature, but were ready to do this. It ust needs some time."

Two-hundred-and-ninety-six kilometres of link roads are to be laid for the railway line. Before a road can be built, special road construction machines, each weighing over 10 tons, have to be pulled up steep dirt tracks to the point where the road ends. And when those points are completely inaccessible, the machines are even airdropped.

"The road has been constructed in an unconvential way by building machines, through a nallah (gutter), taking up through temporary paths and then starting the face of the roads from two more sides. This has been done in order to save time," says Kumar.

And as if building road tunnels isn't difficult enuough, the planners have to deal with events that are completely unplanned – like landslides.

Vinod Kumar says, "There are a lot of landslides. There was an accident during the 2005 earthquake. A worker died and it took us eight hours to dig out his body. But then, a road has to be built. We have to take calculated risks."

The Pir Panjals are relatively young mountains with a weak geological structure, prone to large tectonic movements. Some tunnels have collapsed, while others were abandoned after their dangers became clear.

Jammu University's Professor G M Bhatt says, "The area is highly earthquake prone. It is quake zone V and the rock structure is all dolomite and limestone which is fractured and is the main cause of landslides and tunnel collapses."