U’khand gets huge rail, road booster

In a major booster to rail connectivity in the upper Himalayan region, the ambitious Rishikesh-Karnaprayag rail project — that aims to connect the temple town of Rishikesh with Karnaprayag at an altitude of almost 5,000 feet on the route to Badrinath — will now be extended upto Sonprayag, near Kedarnath, situated at an altitude of almost 6,000 feet above sea level, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said, adding that Rail Minister would lay the foundation stone for the extended line shortly. The rail project, in the works for the past few years, is the first major effort after independence to connect people of the plains to the hills of Uttarakhand through a rail network. In addition to the announcement of an all-weather road project of Rs.13,000 crore for the Char Dham, the state government is also making effort to connect the four shrines with rail network. The 125 km Rishikesh-Karnprayag rail project, which came after the approval of Char Dham road project, he said.

Published: 12 May 2017