“Pilgrims must get fast, safe, and comfortable leg connectivity beyond BG link with the Char Dhams” – Shri Piyush Goyal

Shri Piyush Goyal Minister for Railways and Commerce & Industry and Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution reviews last mile connectivity plans for Char Dham projects

“Pilgrims must get fast, safe and comfortable last leg connectivity with the Char Dhams”, this was said Shri Piyush Goyal Minister for Railways and Commerce & Industry and Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution while reviewing the last mile connectivity plans for Char Dham projects.

The Shri Piyush Goyal directed concerned officials to do a detailed review of all the alternatives keeping in view the comfort and safety of citizens. He said that options of all last leg connectivity be examined along with detailed cost implications for the entire project up to completion.

Shri Piyush Goyal said that in order to cater to the need of tourism and to make it convenient for the pilgrims to reach the temple safely and timely, comprehensive planning for the project needs to be done.

It may be noted that Final Location Survey (FLS) for new BG rail connectivity to Char Dham i.e. Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath is near completion.

Kedarnath and Badrinath Rail connectivity will take off from Karnaprayag station which is part of 125 km long Rishikesh -Karnaprayag new BG Rail line project under construction in full swing. Gangotri and Yamunotri Rail connectivity will take off from the existing Doiwala Station. As per the Char Dham BG Rail connectivity survey, the terminal station of the new BG Rail line is terminating at Barkot, Uttarkashi, Soneprayag, and Joshimath which are short of Char Dham temples due to steep terrain and limitation of BG ruling gradients.

In order to cater to the need of tourism and to make it convenient for the pilgrims to reach the temples safely and timely, Reconnaissance Engineering Survey(RES) for connecting new BG Railway terminal stations to Dhams (Temples) is being carried out with an objective to look for a suitable system which is environmentally friendly, safe and at the same time a tourist attraction.

A large number of pilgrims across the country flock to Char Dhams & a large number of foreign and domestic tourists are attracted to trekking & site seeing in the state of Uttarakhand. The existing road connectivity travels through fragile mountainous slopes and suffers from serious handicaps of load, capacity, safety, and speed. The Rail connectivity to these Char Dhams will make the travel much safer, economical, comfortable, environment friendly, and all-weather.