The Indian Air Force has conducted a trial landing at the Surukot helipad to check its feasibility for airdropping men and heavy machinery for the constructing an approach road for the Katra-Dharam rail line which will connect the Indian rail network with the Valley. This is the first time in the history of the Railways in India that 190 km of approach roads have to be built before constructing on a railway line can commence. Konkan Railways public awareness consultant Yashwant Jogdev said an IAF helicopter landed safely at the helipad on December 27 after which it was okayed for landing MI-26 helicopters. “The Konkan Railway has decided to airlift machinery to accelerate work on the approach road,” he said.Jogdev said that since the Katra-Dharam line passes through many unapproachable areas along the banks of the Chenab, there was practically no way to commence road construction with modern heavy machinery. The Konkan Railway has already completed about 98 km of the road connecting state highways with the remote villages of Reasi and Mahore in Udhampur.“It was decided to airdrop machinery to expedite work on the 14.28-km approach road from Dugga to Khanikot. For this we constructed a helipad at a suitable location,” he said, adding that as a result of the Surukot helipad the road link can be constructed quickly. He said similar helipads have already been built at Kouri and Sangaldan. The Konkan Railway is constructing the 71-km Katra-Dharam stretch, while the 53-km Jammu-Udhampur and 30-km Udhampur-Katra stretches are being built by the Northern Railways. The 67-km Daram-Qazigund stretch and the 120-km Qazigund-Baramulla stretches are with IRCON. The stretch from Katra will also passes over the mighty river Chenab, with the world's tallest bridge being constructed over it.
