In a major push for infrastructural development in Jammu and Kashmir, the trial run of the first 18-coach AC train from Katra in Jammu to Budgam in Kashmir was conducted successfully on Sunday morning. The trial run was completed on the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL), officials said.
“The 18-coach trial train has reached Budgam now and this completes the final trial run on the USBRL”, railway officials monitoring the trial run in Ramban said.
The ambitious USBRL was completed in Rs 41,000 crore. The track covers 326 km, out of which a 111 km section will run through tunnels. The 12.77 kilometre-long T-49 tunnel on the route is the longest railway tunnel in the country.
This was the first trial run between Katra and Srinagar, and came within six days after the Commissioner of Railway Safety (Northern Circle) Dinesh Chand Deshwal authorised the opening of the newly constructed Broad Gauge line.
Surrounded on both sides by mountain peaks, the USBRL construction site is subject to billowing and gusty winds. The entire USBRL is the most challenging task completed successfully by the Indian Railways. It is probably the most challenging rail link ever built in the world over such a long distance between treacherous mountains, rivers and difficult topography and weather.
“The USBRL will boost the horticulture, agriculture, tourism, trade, and education of students and also make travel easy and affordable for the average citizen between Kashmir and the rest of the country,” officials hoped.
This project is also one of the most powerful infrastructures integrating J&K with other parts of the country. The Vande Bharat train will chug between Katra and Baramulla the day the inauguration is made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The final date of the inauguration is yet to be officially announced
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