Katra all set to be on railway map

Katra is all set to join the national railway network in next few months and also to witness the change in the business pattern of the city with Indian Railways aiming to provide each and every facility at the station itself for pilgrims visiting Vaishno Devi.

The opening of the rail link would enable pilgrims to reach the holy city diretcly by train for Vaishno Devi pilgrimage and would not need to undertake road journey from Jammu. Work on the 25 km long Udhampur-Katra project is expected to be completed latest by May and officials said it could be commissioned anytime after inspection.

This section of rail line is part of the ambitious 326 km long national project of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link. It was sub-divided in three legs and out of this 119 km long Qazigund-Baramulla rail link is functional, while Udhampur-Katra rail link is almost complete. The most difficult and challenging section remains 129 km Katra-Qazigund rail line.

The station is spread in 80 acres of land in which 10 acres have been earmarked for parking alone. 'This station can easily handle 1 lakh people every day and there is enough space to enhance the capacity if there is a need in the future. We have tried to make a railway station with facilities at par with any station of the world,' said BD Garg, CAO of Udhampur- Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project.