Modalities being worked out for plying vehicular traffic through Banihal Railway Tunnel

Jammu Tawi, Feb 06: As a sequel to the decision of using the Qazigund-Banihal Railway tunnel for plying vehicular traffic during extreme weather conditions and heavy snowfalls, Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti today reviewed the operating procedures to be adopted while opening the tunnel at a meeting with officers of State Government and Northern Railways.

It is pertinent to mention here that during her trip to the national capital three days ago Mehbooba Mufti had sought opening of the Railway tunnel for vehicular movement during heavy snowfalls and extreme winters. The Railway Minister, Suresh Prabu had agreed to the suggestion and it was decided that working out of modalities would be followed soon.

Addressing the meeting, the Chief Minister said the decision to use the said Railway tunnel has been necessitated by the fact that many passenger vehicles get stranded on the same stretch of National Highway during heavy snowfalls and slippery conditions putting hundreds of passengers to risk. She thanked the Railway Minister for agreeing to her suggestion to use the tunnel during extreme weather conditions.

Mehbooba Mufti impressed upon the officers of State Government and Northern Railways to fine tune the modalities further and incorporate each other's views on how to optimally use the tunnel without disturbing railway movement through it. She stressed on maintaining close coordination in this regard.

Financial Commissioner, Planning & Development, B.B. Vyas; Inspector General of Police (Traffic), Shafqat Watali; senior officers from Northern Railways besides other senior officers were present on the occasion.

In the meanwhile, Subject to the condition of the road, especially between Udhampur -Ramsoo and Banihal to Levdora (Qazigund) coupled with narrow width of road at certain places, only one way movement of traffic is feasible/advisable on Srinagar- Jammu NHW. The movement of traffic shall be allowed from Srinagar towards Jammu side in a regulated manner. The movement of all the vehicles (excluding Trailers/multi-axle vehicles) shall be allowed from Levdora from 0800 hours and all these vehicles shall cross Jawahar Tunnel by 1400 hours positively.

No movement of traffic including that of convoys of Army, BSF, CRPF. shall be allowed from Jammu towards Srinagar side on 07.02.2017under any circumstances to ensure hassle free movement of traffic.

Commuters are requested/advised that vehicles are not parked in any landslide/avalanche/vulnerable zones of NHW especially from Ramsoo – Jawahar Tunnel – Levdora under any circumstances. All the vulnerable/avalanche prone zones should be kept free from any kind of traffic to avoid any eventuality.

People are requested not to undertake journey on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway in case of bad weather. They should contact TCU Srinagar (01942450022, 2485396), TCU Ramban (9419993745) and TCU Jammu (01912459048, 9419147732) and officers of Traffic wing to get the status of the road before starting their journey.