Bridge rolls to keep Jammu rly April date

It is this 284-metre bridge that has delayed the launch of the Jammu-Udhampur section — originally slated to start on March 25. Inspecting the construction site, Northern Railways general manager R.R. Jaruhar, however, said the work on the bridge was expected to finish in a few days. ‘‘We will run a goods train along this track on April 12,’’ he said, adding that the papers for the approval of the track by the Commissioner, Railway Safety, had been submitted. ‘‘The safety survey will take two or three days. The first passenger train should run by April 18-19,’’ he said.

The construction of the bridge has been fraught with difficulties. One of the piers, the project’s chief administrative officer Rakesh Chopra said, was the tallest in India — as tall as the Qutub Minar at 69 metres. Work came to a grinding halt for nearly 42 days in winter when the rivets froze and the steel froze in the middle of welding. ‘‘At one point, it rained for 20 days and it became very difficult for trucks carrying construction materials because the soil became soft and vehicles started slipping,’’ Jaruhar said.

Before this, officials were forced to use a ropeway and camels to transport the material across the rivulet because there was no road. And as the foundation was being laid for the bridge, railway officials detected a fault in the earth — about 25 feet from the present foundation which ran more than 200 metres deep. ‘‘We analysed and observed how the crack was developing and it was finally shifted to its present location,’’ a railway official said.

The Jammu-Udhampur track is 54.85 kilometres long with 38 major bridges and 20 tunnels, including one that runs to 2.5 km. Work is also underway on tracks between Udhampur-Katra and Quazigund-Baramulla. Officials say work on these two sections should be completed by December 2005.

Jaruhar says the most challenging section is yet to come — that of Katra-Quazigund, which wll connect Jammu to the Valley.