Jammu, Jan 7 Railway Safety Commissioner, Northern Circle, Dinesh Chand Deshwal on Tuesday started the statutory two-day inspection of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) that was completed recently.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the Jammu Railway Division, heralding the railway connectivity between the Valley and the rest of the country and Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnav has already announced the completion of the Reasi-Katra section last month.
The Commissioner of Railway Safety carried out the statutory inspection of the Katra-Reasi section and also visited the Anji Khad bridge, India’s first cable-stayed rail bridge, in the Reasi district soon after reaching Katra on Tuesday.
Officials said that the Commissioner will be visiting the iconic arch bridge over Chenab at Kauri, the world’s highest railway bridge before the to and fro speed trial of Katra-Banihal on Wednesday afternoon.
A successful trial run of an electric train was successfully conducted on the Katra-Banihal section on January 4.
The railways have conducted six trials over the past month on various segments of the track including the two major milestones of Anji Khad Bridge and the Chenab Bridge.
The railway official will submit a report after the conclusion of his two-day inspection, which will guide further action on starting train services to Kashmir.
Out of the total 272 km USBRL project, 209 km was commissioned in phases with the first phase of the 118 km Qazigund-Baramulla section commissioned in October 2009, followed by 18 km Banihal-Qazigund stretch in June 2013, the 25 km Udhampur-Katra section in July 2014, and the 48.1 km long Banihal-Sangaldan stretch in February last year.
The work on the 46-km Sangaldan-Reasi section was also completed in June last year, leaving a total 17-km stretch between Reasi and Katra and this section was finally completed in December 2024.
The officials said the dream project to link Kashmir by train was started in 1997 and has missed several deadlines given geological, topographical, and meteorological challenges. The operationalisation of the USBRL is a dream come true for the people of the Valley. The dream had been eluding the Valley for the last 70 years.
Once it becomes a reality on January 26 when the Prime Minister inaugurates the Vande Bharat train between Delhi and Baramulla, traders, students, apple growers, tourism industry stakeholders, and the common man will have become a part of the country's railway network. It will usher in a new era of development in the Valley that has no parallel so far.
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