The Great Train Mystery

After decades of waiting to travel to Kashmir by train, enthusiasts spent the last years watching Youtube - their enthusiasm whetted by breathless V-loggers commenting yard by yard on which bridge, tunnel or rail station was in what state of completion. The construction of Chenab bridge, the Anji Khad bridge, the troublesome T3 tunnel with its the complex geology, all viewers transfixed on Youtube.

Then tantalizing podcasts showed a spanking new orange coloured Vande Bharat train ready to take passengers overnight to Delhi from Srinagar and back. Appetites whetted, enthusiasts could not wait for the day to come. Train schedule and travel times were touted about. And then, silence!

Months passed and no services - variously, one learnt it was because of the PM’s schedule, or security planning that held up start of operations. Some rumours had it that they would begin just before the J&K elections were due. Indian Railways would not say what the problem was. The election came and went. It was all very mystifying.

Then finally a service started, not from Delhi, or even Jammu. Katra was the place picked as the origin and destination of trains to and from Srinagar. Jammu railway station reportedly had construction work going on and Katra was the alternative origin chosen. No one explained why not Udhampur or Kathua.

One hears now that the Vande Bharat service is to be extended to Jammu this month. There is no news about connections from further away – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, or Kanyakumari. The Railways publicity machine, in overdrive till the line was completed, has fallen completely silent.

Perhaps there are problems with the line that Railways is reluctant to make public, or there are security issues that we cannot be told. A few observations on security would not be taken amiss.

The intensive security procedures instituted for passengers at Katra, and to be repeated one is told at Jammu when the train starts from there, are said to be necessary to prevent sabotage.

Security is a complex business. One hesitates to comment on this touchy subject but it does seem unlikely that a terrorist would be able to do much damage while sitting inside a closed compartment, with automatic closing doors and closed windows. The structures have been built to withstand 200 kmph winds and strong earthquakes. Surely any possibility of attacks from passengers are more easily prevented by positioning security personnel inside the bogies.

A saboteur might potentially place a bomb underneath the carriage, but that sort of problem is handled differently, not by screening passengers and their luggage. How about a train hijacking? It is theoretically possible of course, but that threat applies to all trains, even the local trains from Kashmir.

Security experts would have gamed all possible scenarios and would want to be absolutely certain that no humanly conceivable possibility of mischief is ruled out, and perhaps, some not even conceivable. If that is the intention we will be waiting a long time for long distance trains from Delhi and elsewhere, and the purpose of building a line to the valley will have been lost in trying to protect it.

Security concerns can be taken to incomprehensible lengths. While travelling to Terminal 3 of Delhi airport cars need to negotiate a security check point about a kilometre before the airport. No car is ever stopped, but all cars are required to slow down over speed breakers while sentries examine their faces. There is none on the roads leading to Terminals 2 and 3. A similar set of speed breakers and sentries scrutinize cars and faces, for some incomprehensible reason when driving out of Terminal 3.

Travellers from the valley too would be happy to get to reach Jammu quicker. Very few from Kashmir have business in Udhampur, and vice versa.

The pleasing prospect of a seamless train journey to Kashmir remains elusive. Whatever benefits the line may have conferred on Katra, they are at the expense of travellers from Jammu and elsewhere.

There is natural flow of traffic between Jammu and Srinagar; very little between Katra and Srinagar. If the railway line to Kashmir is to fulfil the purpose for which it was built, it must cater to traffic originating in Jammu and beyond. Seamless rail travel and goods transport between Kashmir and other parts of India was the purpose of the line. That purpose is not being served, nor are travellers being weaned away from air and road travel by the bottleneck at Katra.

It is unlikely that too many pilgrims combine a pilgrimage with their vacation. Most are very short stay, overnight usually, and rarely more than two nights - Quickly in and quickly out is plan of action. The train might bring more pilgrims to Katra but leisure and business travellers to Kashmir will only be discouraged.

Security concerns of course best comprehended by the experts. Nevertheless, one must ask if a train needs to be sanitized like an aeroplane. And if it does, whether those checks should not be done at Jammu instead of Katra.

Besides, what use is there screening at Katra, or even Jammu, if a terrorist can board a local train without screening any of the stations on the down journey from Srinagar.

Security is a difficult business, but it should be possible to distinguish between what is necessary and that which is redundant and annoying.

The route taken by the Udhampur Srinagar line is also, in a way, somewhat of an unhappy compromise. At the planning stage of the line to Srinagar Indian Railways had two secondary goals. One was to create a supply line to Northern Army Command at Udhampur, the other to cater to pilgrims to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine at Katra.

The line from Jammu to Srinagar could have followed either of two alignments, one from Jammu to Katra and then up the Chenab valley to Dhamkund/Sangal dan, or alternatively from Jammu to Udhampur and then to Srinagar. Railways did a zigzag, going first to Udhampur and then to Katra, taking care of both destinations in one project. This was an unnecessary compromise. From Udhampur the route to Kashmir lies under the Patni range crossing the Chenab either around Baglihar, or Dhamkund, ahead of Ramban. This route along the Tawi from Udhampur, was perhaps the easier (and quicker route) that the surveyors could have chosen. In this case a separate spur line could have been built from Jammu to Katra for the pilgrim traffic.

Alternatively, they could have constructed a Jammu Katra Srinagar line and built a spur line between Jammu and Udhampur to cater to the army’s needs. The present arrangement, going through both Udhampur and Katra is not even a compromise. It is an attempt to kill three birds with one stone: the link to Kashmir, pilgrim requirements, and army supplies.

The line is built now, and there is no use crying over what might have been. But it should still be possible to improve the situation, albeit at the cost of making the Udhampur Katra section somewhat redundant.

Subject to its priorities and depending upon resources the Ministry of Railways should consider connecting Jammu rail station with Katra rail station directly, bypassing the Udhampur link. This line, no more than 30 kilometres long, would shorten distance between Jammu and Srinagar and reduce the time taken for the journey. It would in no way affect Udhampur, because trains intended for army supplies, or local traffic would continue to ply between Jammu and Udhampur. Travel time between Jammu and Srinagar would be reduced to three and a half hours and between Jammu and Katra to a mere 30 minutes.

B R Singh is a retired IAS officer who served in the J&K cadre.