Rail link to Valley before Aug 15, 2022: Goyal
*Train will bring New India to New J&K: Dr Jitendra
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Oct 3: Union Home Minister Amit Shah today declared that militants and their ideology will be wiped out in Kashmir following revocation of special Constitutional provisions of Jammu and Kashmir and within next 10 years, the State will figure among 10 top developed regions of the country.
He was speaking after flagging off high speed Vande Bharat Express which will run between New Delhi-Katra, in the Union capital this morning in the presence of Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, Health and Medical Education Minister Dr Harshvardhan and Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Dr Jitendra Singh among others.
“Within the next 10 years, Jammu and Kashmir will be one of the most developed regions of the country and the journey of development has begun with the launch of Vande Bharat Express today, which will boost religious tourism and development in the State,” Shah said in his address.
The train will run daily between New Delhi-Katra except Tuesday and was expected to give further boost to holy pilgrimage of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi ji shrine
Describing Article 370, which granted special status to the State and was scrapped by the Centre on August 5 along with Article 35-A, as hurdle in unity and integrity and development of Jammu and Kashmir, the Union Home Minister expressed confidence that after removal of the special status, terrorists in Kashmir and their ideology will be completely wiped out.
“Every Indian wanted Articles 370 and 35-A to go and following approval of the Parliament; the two Articles are now part of history. Kashmir is free from the special status and part of India like other regions,” the Home Minister said.
He described Vande Bharat Express as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s gift to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to boost religious tourism.
Asserting that everyone in his life desires to visit Mata Vaishno Devi ji shrine once, Shah said at one time undertaking pilgrimage was very tough but since 2014 when Narendra Modi Government took over, it has ensured that people could reach all religious places easily and safely.
“Many steps have been taken in this direction and launch of high speed train, which is fully indigenous, is new beginning,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal declared that before August 15, 2022 Kashmir will be connected with Kanyakumari by rail and all efforts in this direction including construction of bridge over river Chenab, tunnels etc were on.
“Earlier, there were hurdles in construction work due to terrorism. Now, work on Katra-Banihal railway line has been expedited by the Railways and within next two and half years, Kashmir will be linked with Kanyakumari by train.
Asserting that scrapping of special Constitutional provisions of Jammu and Kashmir will give fillip to development of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, Goyal said the Railways will work day and night to develop the State and launch of Vande Bharat Express today was a step in that direction.
He said with the blessings of Goddess Vaishno Devi, Jammu and Kashmir will further march towards development and progress and gave all credit to Amit Shah for making the State an integral part of the country.
“The abrogation of Article 370 has connected the people of this country to Jammu and Kashmir and I believe that this train will become symbol of the development and progress that this region will see in the years to come because of this brave move by the Government,” Goyal said.
Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Dr Jitendra Singh said after removal of Article 370, the Vande Bharat Express train was second gift of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Jammu and Kashmir.
“The Vande Bharat Express will bring New India to New Jammu and Kashmir,” he asserted.
Asserting that faith of the people was linked to Katra Vaishno Devi, Dr Jitendra Singh said launch of high speed New Delhi-Katra train was more significant for him as he was Lok Sabha representative of that area.
He said he was in New Delhi today because of the blessings of Goddess Vaishno Devi and recalled that soon after taking over as Prime Minister in 2014, Narendra Modi’s first major programme was inauguration of Katra Railway Station.
Dr Jitendra Singh said Narendra Modi Government by removing Article 370 has respected the struggle of three generations and their wait for 72 years to end the special status.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that modern technologies have been introduced in the Railways by the Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said, it is a matter of pride for him as an MP reresenting Katra-Vaishno Devi that first such train named Vande Bharat Express from Delhi-Varanasi was flagged off by the Prime Minister earlier this year and this is the second such train which will connect Delhi with Katra.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, Katra is not only a tourist destination, but our faith is associated with it. Since he also holds the charge of Ministry of North Eastern Region , he said that Kamakhya-Katra Weekly Express train was flagged off by the Prime Minister in the year 2016. The train connects two religious places of the country, he added.
Dr Jitendra singh said, train journey is not only a journey for us, but manifestation of our sentiments.
The Vande Bharat Express is likely to cut the travel time between Delhi and Katra to just eight hours.
Train number 22439 New Delhi-Katra Vande Bharat Express will depart from the New Delhi Railway Station at 6 am to reach Katra at 2 pm. Enroute, the train will halt at Ambala Cantt, Ludhiana and Jammu Tawi for two minutes each.
On the return journey the same day, train number 22440 Katra-New Delhi Vande Bharat Express will leave from the Katra Railway Station at 3 pm to reach the New Delhi Railway Station at 11 pm.
Train 18 will ply on all days of the week except Tuesday.
Features of Vande Bharat
* The luxury all air-conditioned chair car service comprises 16 coaches, including two driver cars, two executive chair cars and 12 chair car coaches.
* A spacious pantry with a deep freezer, revolving seats and cattle guard are part of Vande Bharat Express.
* All the coaches of the engine-less Vande Bharat Express have separate toilets for disabled passengers with automatic lighting door system.
* They are connected with one another and provide easy movement for passengers between the coaches. There are distributed pantries for every coach.
* The train to Katra, the base camp for pilgrims visiting Vaishno Devi, will be running at a maximum speed of 130 km/hour and will cover the distance in eight hours, reducing the travel time by four hours. Commercial run of the train will start from October 5.
* The train has vacuum toilets, diffused lighting, hands-free taps, dryers, mobile charging points for every seat and 360-degree rotatable seats in the executive class.
* Every coach has LED screens highlighting the next stoppage, train speed and other information. Closed-circuit television or CCTV cameras and announcing system have also been installed.
* All the doors of coaches are automatically operated and are under the control of the guard.
* The train has bottle crushing machines in the first and last coach in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message against single-use plastic, an official said.
* This is the first time a deep freezer to store ice creams and welcome drinks have been installed on a train. Three hot cases, two bottle coolers, water purifiers or ROs have also been made available.
* The train does not have a chain pulling system. If any passenger has any problem, they can press a button and the guard will be there to attend him.
* The new train has a bigger pantry compared to the first Train 18 or Vande Bharat Express.
* The train has continuous windows and the glasses have been provided with anti-spall films.
* Anti-spall films are a protective coating to protect window panes and passengers from any fragmentation.
* Roller blind sunscreen, which significantly reduces the Sun’s glare whilst allowing the light to pass through, has been provided on the look-out glass to protect pilots from glare, and improved insulation has been provided to reduce noise level in the driver’s cab.
* Phone handsets have been provided for direct communication between pilots and guards
* It also has windows with a special provision to protect against stone-pelting and a cattle guard in the front to prevent damage to the train or derailment in case of cattle run.
* Its use of water-based organic solvents, instead of chemicals, for cleaning purposes also won it the tag of India’s first green train.
* After the successful trial run of the first Train 18 last year, Indian Railways has plans to introduce more such trains. The possible routes include Bengaluru-Hyderabad, Mumbai-Ahmedabad and Kolkata-Patna.
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