Excelsior Correspondent
Jammu, Aug 30: For analyzing the present infrastructure at Samba Railway Station and further developing the place for establishment of Freight Terminal, the first of its kind in the Jammu and Kashmir, Devendra Singh, CTPM, along with Anoo Malhotra Director, Industries & Commerce, Jammu visited the Samba Railway Station.
Team of officers, Vinod Tripathi Chief Engineer Northern Railway, S.K. Singh Senior Divisional Manager Ferozpur division, Willamjeet Singh Sr. Divisional Engineer Ferozpur division, Shri Chetan Taneja Divisional Traffic Manager Northern railway/ Station Director, Jammu also accompanied CTPM for analyising as to how the facility of Freight Terminal can be created for making the transportation of trade goods, raw material and finished goods easy and cheaper for the traders and industrialists.
On spot meeting was also held with the unit holders, who vehemently requested the Railway authorities for providing such facility at an earliest as most of the raw material is brought from outside the state. They were informed that the project is in pipe line and to start with the project has been given to a private player. The same shall be expanded as per the needs of the traders and unit holders. CTPM also informed that initially the terminal shall have the capacity to handle the movement of 2 to 5 cargo trains per day in and out. The cargo trains would be ordinary goods trains, containers. trains or automobile trade trains. The trains would have the capacity to move 6000 to 9000 Metric Tonnes of goods per day.
The terminal will also handle container, brake bulk (Cement /Fertilizers / Steel and automobiles) apart from other Industrial goods. He also shared the plan to develop cold chain for horticulture produce of the State.
The Railway authorities informed that in due course, the terminal would be connected to East & West freight corridors also. During the discussion, it also came to fore that from Ludhiana freight terminal 3 & 5 goods train are running on to & fro basis per day.
Devendra Singh informed that Freight Terminal at Samba, shall be operative within 10 months and assured that many steps are being taken to improve the infrastructure of Jammu Railway Station also. He said that Department of Railways is also planning to set up a state of art freight terminal in Kashmir for which suitable land is being finalized.