SME Times News Bureau | 28 Oct, 2009
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday flagged off a new train service on the 18-km track linking south Kashmir with Srinagar and other places in the north of the valley. With this, the 129-km railway line in the Kashmir Valley is complete.

The 18-km stretch, not so long in terms of geographical distance, will be of huge socio-economic and political significance to the militancy-affected Kashmir Valley. The stretch is part of the government's Kashmir rail link, which has been declared a project of national importance.

The new train service will reduce by one hour the otherwise three-hour travel between north Kashmir's Baramulla and Qazigund.

Qazigund, about 80 km from Srinagar, is also significant as it will be the highest broad-gauge rail station in the country at a height of 1,722 metres.