Highest rail station to be operational on Oct 28

India’s highest broad gauge rail station at Qazigund, about 80 km from Srinagar, at an altitude of 1,722 metres would become operational on October 28 when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurates the Anantnag-Qazigund section of the ambitious Kashmir rail link project.

With opening of the 18-km line, the valley will be linked to its capital Srinagar and other important places, and the trains are expected to chug at a speed of 100 km per hour. “Earlier trains through the region were running at the speed of 80 km per hour. Now they would run at 100 km with the enhancement of technology,” said a senior railway ministry official associated with the project.

Besides PM, who will flag off the new train service and the new section at Anantnag station, several Union ministers including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Farooq Abdullah and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah will attend the inaugural ceremony.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi was also expected to attend the function, said the official.