A dream come true

August 1966 - I was amongst the group of students from Kashmir selected to study at Sainik School Ghorakhal, Nainital by the government of Jammu and Kashmir. We were joined by students selected from Jammu and Ladakh regions. I have vivid memory of our final interviews conducted by Late Wing Cdr Jaimal Singh, Principal of school, in the new Secretariat building in Srinagar and my first experience of ‘going up and down’ the lift multiple times. Most of us were admitted in class V or VI.

After a Sainik school was established in Nagrota, the state government of J&K stopped sending students to such schools outside of state but continued to support students who were sponsored for studying in Sainik school in Nainital and earlier to Bhubaneswar till completion of their studies upto class XI.

I recall our journey would start from Srinagar to Jammu in a bus charging about Rs 10 in ‘B’ class or Rs 12 in ‘A’ class from either Lal Chowk bus stop or Tourist Reception Centre, respectively. Even though a half-concession student ticket from Srinagar to Jammu by Indian Airlines was about Rs 23, we could not afford to travel by air as most of us were from families of very modest means. Initially, our parents would accompany us upto Pathankot but later few of them would volunteer to take charge of entire group. After a few years, we were senior enough to travel alone without their oversight !

We would stay in Jammu for the night and travel next day in a bus from Jammu to Pathankot to take Sealdah express upto Bareilly. Having a bottle of Coca cola cold drink at Lakhimpur was a special treat. The bus from Jammu to Pathankot would stop at Samba and Lakhimpur. Our school bus would pick us from Bareilly railway station to school in a journey of about five hours. We had only winter vacations in school and hence we spent winters in Kashmir.

A school teacher, usually, Mr Joginder Singh, our English teacher was assigned to accompany us in our journey by train, from Pathankot to Bareilly and vice versa. We adored him as he was both, a violinist and a good singer, and made our journeys musical with a jovial environment. Sometimes, we were regaled with jokes by Late Mr P S Chikkara, our PT teacher who would accompany the group, especially from school to Bareilly. He had travelled globally as a sailor in Indian Navy earlier and would freely share his global experiences. He had learnt English on the job from his interactions at various international ports.

Most of our school mates in Nainital who came from other places in India would travel by train from Kathgodam railway station (very close to our school) to their homes directly or with a changeover at some station and vice versa. I too would dream of a day when we could travel from Srinagar to our school or return home by train. Often, I recall such discussions would take place when our bus got held up due to sudden landslides on road from Srinagar to Jammu. To be sure not to miss Sealdah express, sometimes we would travel a day earlier and use our time in Jammu to see a new film at a cinema hall. I recall seeing Mera Naam Joker, Ram aur Shyam, Daraar to name a few.

No new films were released in valley in winter and most halls screened old movies. Nevertheless, it was a blessing for me to see most movies of my favourite actor, Dilip Kumar in winter vacations !

Let me make an honest confession. I never thought my dream of travelling to Kashmir by train would come true in my lifetime. The project to connect Kashmir was known for missing cost and time deadlines multiple times and not taken with the seriousness it deserved, post its accession to India in October 1947. Jammu was connected by rail with Pathankot in December 1972. Thereafter, trains were started in valley between Banihal and Baramulla from 2008 to 2013 but linking Kashmir with Jammu posed too many technical challenges for construction of rail bridges and tunnels.

Train from Jammu was extended to Udhampur in 2005 but the extension of this link upto Katra, a track of about 15 miles, was not easy. It required about 7 tunnels and 38 bridges to link Katra with Udhampur. The construction of Chenab rail bridge in Reasi district which is the world’s highest railway bridge was not easy. It is a marvel of Indian engineering, construction and project management expertise. Compliments to all in Indian Railways, the government and other stakeholders who have made it happen.

Understandably, the train to Kashmir will formally start on January 20, 2025. This date will hence be recorded as one of the most important dates in the modern history of Jammu and Kashmir with a transformational potential on social, economical and geo-political landscape of the region.

As a recap, the first plan to link Kashmir with train was conceived in 1886 during the reign of Maharaja Pratap Singh. It was proposed to extend the metre gauge railway line from Rawalpindi to Kashmir. Plan of laying a 175 mile long track with a maximum gradient of 1 in 50 and curves of 400 ft radius was prepared but raising Rs 3.07 crore as the budgeted cost became a challenge !

Geographically, the only railway line that entered Jammu and Kashmir at the time of accession was a branch of the north-western railway that connected Sialkot, some twenty-five miles away in Pakistan, to the winter capital of J&K, Jammu city. J&K had few motorable roads; the main road, like railway links, connected the city of Jammu with Sialkot. Of the three roads to Srinagar, two entered J&K from areas that were to become part of Pakistan.

The first was the all-weather Jhelum Valley Road, which ran alongside the Jhelum river for 132 of its 196 miles. The road began in Rawalpindi, where there was a railhead, and then via Murree and Domel, near Muzaffarabad, to Srinagar.

A second road went from the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) rail terminus of Havelian, seventy-one miles further north of Rawalpindi, via Abbottabad to Muzaffarabad, and then to Srinagar. A third, ‘a more picturesque’ road was an extension of the Sialkot-Jammu road. The route went for 203 miles from Jammu city to Srinagar via the Banihal Pass, which was often snowbound during winter from December to April and was ‘notoriously liable to gullying and landslips’.

Economically speaking, most non timber exports went via the Jhelum Valley Road but timber was exported by floating it down the Jhelum and Chenab to points downstream in Pakistani Punjab rivers before accession. Post accession, the whole economic integration of Kashmir was only via Banihal road which till recently was of poor condition.

Luckily, the Radcliffe Commission awarded tehsils of Gurdaspur to India while demarcating the boundary between the two dominions and opened the feasibility of linking Jammu with mainland India.

On July 28, 1947, the Maharaja had sanctioned a scheme of metalling the Kathua road. By September 25, 1947, the government of J&K ordered the construction of a boat bridge over the river Ravi near Pathankot, thus connecting J&K to India. In parallel, work started on construction of a new road from Jammu city to Kathua on the Jammu state border touching Gurdaspur district. Had Radcliffe not awarded tehsils of Gurdaspur to India, linking Kashmir by train or road would have been operationally impossible.

Luckily, I have lived to see this day along with many of my school friends, like former Advisor to Governor, Khursheed Ganai, IAS; Dr Bashir Ganai, Dr J P Singh, Dr Saroj Kaul and others who live currently in Srinagar and Jammu who can recall those days of our travel from Srinagar to school in Nainital from 1966 to 1972. After we completed schooling, train reached Jammu in December 1972 ! I know all my school friends read, Greater Kashmir and hence using GK to give a shout out to them to plan a group journey on train from Kashmir. Regret, we will deeply miss our classmate, former Chief Secretary, Late Iqbal Khandey, IAS.

Train to Kashmir is bound to bring in more tourists, help develop human resources and boost trade from Kashmir by reducing supply chain cost. May it be the train of peace, progress and prosperity for Jammu and Kashmir.

Surely, one childhood dream has indeed come true !

Ashok Dhar FEI, author, “Kashmir As I see it : From within and afar”