Rail infra expanded rapidly in past 10 years under PM Modi: Jitendra Singh

JAMMU: With Kashmir set to get connected with the rest of the country through rail link anytime soon, Union minister Jitendra Singh on Monday said the railway infrastructure recorded rapid expansion in the past 10 years across the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Addressing a function organised at the Jammu railway station to mark the inauguration of the Jammu railway division by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Singh said Kashmir is getting connected by train very soon, fulfilling a long-lived dream.

The BJP MP from Udhampur also raised a question mark on the delay of over five decades in extending the railway line from Jammu to Kashmir Valley, as he urged people to celebrate the creation of the Jammu division for the bright future of their children.

"The first train will go from here to Kashmir (very soon), giving a new impetus to business, industry and tourism besides creating new job opportunities in the region. Modi Ji has done it for us, in a realistic way," Singh said.

"Many elderly people will remember that exactly 53 years ago in 1972, a train arrived at the Jammu railway station. So the question that arises is what took so long to extend the service to Kashmir," he said.

"In the past five decades, many governments came and went. Someday, this delay in extending service to Kashmir will be a subject of discussion. Were the priorities different or the earlier governments did not have the willpower?

"Were there people who did not want Kashmir to be connected to the rest of India by rail and be made a part of the national mainstream? Or was it the creator's will that we had to wait for 50 years for Modi to become the prime minister," Singh asked.

When the Modi-led government took over in 2014, the work on Kashmir's rail project was almost stopped as the railway line and its alignments were entangled in the midst of controversies, the minister said.

But the government decided to go ahead with the work, leading to the construction of the world's highest railway bridge over Chenab river in Reasi district along the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla railway line, which was completed recently and is presently undergoing trial runs between Katra and Srinagar, he said.

Stating that the BJP-led government ensured fast-track work on the rail project to ensure its completion within the shortest possible time, Singh said, "Railway infrastructure in the country expanded at a very rapid pace in the past 10 years after Modi took over as the prime minister in 2014."

"Electrification of tracks has been completed in over 61,000 kilometres, while the length of metro rail, which was only 248 kilometres in 2014, has been expanded to 1,000 kilometres," he said.

He also termed Jammu one of the best connected destinations in north India which will get a further boost with the completion of the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway within six months, which will enable commuters to reach Delhi in just six hours.

Referring to the northeast, Singh said there is no part in the region where double-track railway line has not been set up in the past decade, while the Arunachal Expressway inaugurated by Modi has improved connectivity and transport network.