Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday expressed hope that far-flung areas of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will be connected through a rail network very soon.While inspecting the cleanliness at New Delhi Railway Station today, Vaishnaw told ANI that the work for the railway line is going on very fast in Jammu and Kashmir and he is overseeing the project himself.”It is not so easy to work in such difficult Himalayan terrain. Deadlines may get changed a bit, but there is no shortage of effort on any level,” the minister said.Further, he said, “We should give credit to all those engineers, technicians, all those workers, who are working there to fulfil the dream of the country in such a difficult condition. The Himalayan terrain is very fragile; as you move forward, you have to decide accordingly.””When you work on flat ground, you get its Geo-Technical Data everywhere. But, while working in the Himalayas, we do not get to know this. As I am also an engineer, I know this very well,” he added.Vaishnaw also informed that the work for the upcoming Bullet Train project is going at full speed.”6 piers of this project have already been cast. Pillars are also starting to form and land acquisition work has almost been completed. These milestones have been achieved despite a severe shortage of manpower and other logistical challenges because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.It is worth mentioning that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had laid the foundation stone for the ambitious Rs 1.08 lakh crore project on September 14, 2017. The bullet train is expected to run at a speed of 320 km per hour, covering the 508-km stretch of Ahmedabad-Mumbai in nearly two hours.Talking about the new Vande Bharat trains, Vaishnaw said, “The new trains were announced by Prime Minister Modi from the Red Fort. He had said that by August 15, 2023, 75 Vande Bharat trains would connect every part of the country and railway is working very hard to complete this dream project.”Wishing the Prime Minister on his birthday, he said that the vision of the Prime Minister is that people should get world-class railway service. “With that vision, we are redeveloping the stations. This would be a gift to Prime Minister from railways,” he said.The minister expressed his satisfaction after inspecting cleanliness and various facilities at New Delhi Railway station in connection with the Swachchta Pakhwada celebration. He also took feedback from passengers and instructed railway officials to maintain cleanliness at stations and trains, to give satisfactory experience to the passengers.
