Uchit Singhal
With the onset of 2025, a landmark announcement from none other than the honorable PM was made with respect to inauguration of Jammu Railway Division. Since its formation, Jammu Division has demonstrated exceptional administrative, operational, and commercial performance, emerging as a strategically important and high-impact division of Indian Railways. Its achievements span passenger services, freight and business development, revenue maximization, safety and vigilance, infrastructure creation, and crisis management, often under challenging terrain and security conditions.
Revenue Generation & Commercial Achievements
The division since inception, despite the manpower and infrastructural obstacles, has been successful in conceptualizing and awarding various assets for monetization through e-auction to earn Non Fare Revenue. The Vande Bharats especially over over Katra-Srinagar and Katra-Delhi routes have been a star performer whether it be advertisement through LED screens, headrest/foodtrays and the latest being the advertisement rights over the sliding doors. The prominent locations at major stations across division have been awarded for generation of revenue through advertisement. Even the major RUB/LHSs have been no exception to this and the advertisement rights on these sites have also been recently e-auctioned by the Jammu division. The different NFR initiatives like opening of Catering units, Multi purpose Stalls, Mobile/Mobile accessory kiosks, Pooja Samagri stall, grocery/photocopier kiosk, textile/garment stores at the stations among many others along with STBA and ATVM facilitator engagement not only resulted in provision of better travel experience and passenger convenience but also helped generate local employment.
Ticket checking drives have been launched from time to time in Jammu division not only to plug the revenue leakage but also to enhance the safety, security, comfort and convenience of bonafide railway passengers. The checks were not only ambush and surprise checks but the fortress checks and magistrate level checks were also organized time to time in close coordination with GRP and RPF. Cumulatively, these checks have resulted in more than 3.72 Cr of revenue through ticket checking alone from Apr’25-Dec’25 alone. Recently, on 29th of December, 10 employees of the division were even graced with the PCCM award for their dedication and efforts.
The zeal of the newly formed division could be gazed when it was first successful in capturing cherry traffic and loading more than 330 Tons of cherry to Mumbai-Bandra region thus curtailing the transit time and consequent damages drastically. This not only provided an economic advantage to the fruit growers of the region but also increased the shelf life of the produce. Division was successful in transporting Mollases ex Tanda, Maize to Kathua and loading of paper bundles/reels was successfully once again brought to rail from Kathua.
Crisis Management & National Service
The Post Pahalgam attack period (after 22nd April) was a challenging phase for the new division as it resulted in very heavy outward flow of passengers/tourists and to meet the sudden increase of demand, multiple additional special trains were planned and run at short notices along with coach augmentation in 4 other trains. Staff/Supervisors/Officers were deployed round the clock in Control and at key stations to ensure smooth flow of passengers and ensuring proper availability of food/water/other catering arrangements. Helpdesks were established and manned at major stations along with a 24×7 CCTV monitoring cum war room to keep a strict vigil/watch on the stations.
No sooner the division overcame the above challenge thrown, another challenging phase came during Operation Sindoor and it was met meticulously by the nascent division by sheer hardwork, dedication and coordinated planning with civil and military authorities. Apart from the establishment of helpdesks/War room, minute by minute monitoring of the situation and the trains running on the tracks was done to ensure safety of not only passengers but also railway installations/assets/staff. Multiple different special trains were planned and run at a very short notice to manage the heavy outflow demand once again. The efforts of the division during this phase were even commended by none other than the Chief of Army Staff himself in his letter to Chairman & CEO, Railway Board, dated 14th August 2025.
The ultimate test of the resilience of the division came during the monsoon especially after 26th of August when the nature’s fury in form of floods, landslides and breaches disrupted not only the road highways but also the railway tracks and bridges in Pathankot-Jammu-Katra section. Staff and officials from all wings/branches worked day in and night out to help the stranded passengers with basic amenities like food/water, arranging public transport for bridging the short terminated trains and restoring the tracks/bridges back for the safe train operations within the minimum possible timeframe. With the road network of interior areas getting affected, Railways came with a unique solution of introducing a flood relief special train in between Sangaldan and Katra during this period which proved to be very beneficial not only for the local populace who was stuck but also for the supply of relief/PDS material. It was during this phase itself that JPP-RCS regular parcel cargo service was launched by the Railways and inaugurated by honorable LG of J&K himself on 15th September to provide apple growers/traders/aggregators an alternate all weather and cost effective option to transport the apple produce which got stranded due to closure of National Highway. With the humble beginning of transporting apple produce by JPP-RCS service, Railways used all its resources and available goodsheds like Anantnag to transport more than 20 thousand tonnes of apple produce from Kashmir through Rail during the Apple season. The popularity and patronage of JPP-RCS could be gauged from the fact that within a very short span of time, 32 applicants got themselves registered as aggregators in this service.
Passenger Services & Operational Excellence
A dream became reality when PM flagged off the first Vande Bharat train between Katra and Srinagar and thus providing the two regions across Pir Panjal with an all-weather connectivity when he dedicated the USBRL project to the nation. With the modern day architectural wonders and engineering marvels like Chenab Bridge and Anji-Khad Bridge along with the longest transportation tunnel till date in place, there was no looking back henceforth. The time advantage and the comfort/convenience that Vande Bharats offered in comparison to the NH-44 attracted the eyes and attention of one and all. The Vande Bharats have been successfully running in between Katra-Srinagar since then and have been instrumental in transporting almost 3.75 lakh people in between these regions.
Another milestone achieved was the notification of Anantnag goods shed in the month of Aug’25 and ever since the first rake of cement was dealt successfully there, this goods shed has changed the logistics supply chain scenario as a whole. Since then, almost 1.5 Lakh tons of cement has been transported into valley through this goods shed alone apart from successful handling of automobile NMG rakes as well as some other commodities like insulated panels and plastic crates meant for cold storage purposes and industrial salt. One more historic moment was recorded on 21st December when first foodgrain rake of FCI was successfully handled at Anantnag. The rake meant for PDS buffer stocks will boost the supply and distribution network, thereby strengthening the food security of the region. Now with Chann Arorian goods shed also getting notified in between Kathua-Hiranagar and work at Pampore getting expedited, Railways is sure to write a new chapter in the progress of logistics sector of J&K.
Safety, Vigilance & Social Responsibility
The efforts of the division on the passenger safety front have been phenomenal and a Safety Bulletin book was also launched by the division in month of May’25 for better awareness of the staff. It was only due to the consistent focus and persistent stress on inspections and field visits, that not even a single injury/incident occurred despite the nature’s fury in the monsoons over this region. Any situation resulting in landslides, breaches or track/bridge issues could be detected in time due to alertness of the staff along with the monitoring mechanisms put in place and the trains could be controlled/regulated well in time. Another step taken to avoid fire related incident during sealing of SLRs/VPs was to introduce Lead wire based sealing system in place of conventional wax/lac based sealing.
During festive rush season from Dushehra to Chhat, special arrangements were done for passenger convenience and safety in Jammu Division. Additional ATVM machines were installed at the major stations across division to reduce the UTS ticket rush and even M-UTS (Mobile Ticketing) based ticketing service was started in the rush days to reduce the queue length at the counters. Apart from establishment of helpdesks and 24×7 CCTV based war room, special focus areas were identified through analysis of Rail Madad Complaints and the same were acted upon. Holding areas were created and worked at Jammu and Katra to regulate the rush in the Platform area. All these small steps not only resulted in successful management of rush despite limited number of trains plying but were also able to generate a positive outlook towards Railways.
And last but not the least, Railways once again came forward in a big way during Indigo Crisis when the sudden flight disruptions/cancellations wreaked havoc on the travel plans of the commuters and it was in this period once again that the division quickly ran Special trains along with Coach augmentation in Rajdhani service so that maximum passengers can avail the Railway service during this period.
(The author is an IRTS officer who served as the first SrDCM and SrDOM of the newly formed Jammu Railways Division.)
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