After waiting for decades, the dreams of the people living in the Kashmir Valley have shattered after knowing that there would be no direct train to the Valley from New Delhi. Be it the locals, the business community or the Politicians, everyone wants the government to reconsider the decision.

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The railway authorities recently came out with a schedule that dose not show any direct train to the Kashmir Valley. All passengers travelling to the Valley will have to deboard at Katra station and catch a new train. This has dampened the excitement seen after the completion of the rail network in the Valley.

The Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah had also expressed dissatisfaction.

''Just to remove any chance of any misunderstanding, while we understand the need to secure the train & the passengers who will travel using it, making passengers change trains will defeat the very purpose of the line and render the thousands of crores of investment pointless. Check the train/passengers in Katra or Jammu sure but NO change of train will be supported by us. That said there is no concrete proposal & when there is we will give our inputs/suggestions,'' said Omar Abdullah.

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The National Conference Spokesperson Imran Nabi also echoed similar sentiments and said, ''There is a lot of concern among the passengers and public that they will have to deboard at Katra. This is something I am sure the railway ministry will look into; Our CM has already spoken on the issue and I am sure it will be addressed. We will have direct trains between Srinagar and Delhi, ''

The Business community which had earlier shown a lot of excitement over the start of the railways in the Valley is also disappointed. They say it will impact the Horticulture and the tourism sector badly if there are no trains directly to the Kashmir Valley. They have requested the central government to reconsider the decision.

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'' We were hoping that there will be a direct train from Delhi to Srinagar and now it's Katra. We are very hopeful in the coming days there will be a direct train to Srinagar. All the tourists and locals coming will be benefited. It will also be helpful for the local business and students and sick people. The tourists who couldn't afford airfares, it would be possible via this train and our sincere request to Prime Minister Modiji and LG and CM is that there should at least be one train from Delhi to Srinagar, '' said Manzoor Pakhtoon, President Houseboat Association.

It's not only the Politicians and the business community which are disappointed by the move but the locals, who had great expectations with railways coming to the Kashmir Valley are also disheartened.  

''The government had promised that it would be a direct train from Delhi to Srinagar and in a very surprising move they have changed that. We feel that they have broken the promise. There is a lot of tension among the people, everyone had thought that there will be respite to them as they won't have to pay the high airfares. It's mostly the business people and sick people who have urgency and they would have benefitted by the direct train. The train stopping at Katra has changed and disappointed the locals. The government needs to rethink the decision. The local government also needs to push for it so that there is a direct train from Kashmir to Delhi, '' said Haya Javaid, a local.

The train service in the valley is expected to start from January 26 and is to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.