Month: June 2020

Tourists who have Leh Ladakh in their must-visit bucket list may soon get an opportunity to travel to Leh town from Delhi or Manali as train to Leh is going to turn reality very soon. While other vehicles take three days of travel time from Delhi and two days from Manali, the train to Leh from Delhi will cover this distance in just one day and from Manali to Leh in nearly 10 hours. Taking a leap ahead of China and Pakistan, India has expedited efforts to connect Leh Ladakh by railway line as final survey, alignment and land acquisition for ambitious Bilaspur-Manali-Leh track, the highest in the world, has been speeded up in Himachal. The projects, however, may miss its 2022 deadline but the government is completing final formalities on the war footing. According to sources, all the projects along border roads including Rohtang tunnel and Leh railway line have been expedited following unrest at the border. The initial marking of the track on Bhanupali-Bilaspur-Mandi-Manali section has already been done. Now Northern Railway is carrying out final alignment and land acquisition starting from Bhanupali in Bilaspur. The process may take a few months to complete. The main challenge in alignment will begin after Manali beyond which majority of the line will be built in tunnels. However, there will be no problem in land acquisition as the whole area with thin population is mostly government land. “Land acquisition has started from Bhanupali in Bilaspur district and surveys have begun in Mandi district,” Mandi MP Ram Swaroop Sharma said, adding that the project has already delayed but has now been expedited for larger interest of the nation. “Building of this railway line has picked up pace following orders from the Centre. This railway line will make our military forces stronger at