Travel Kashmir in just 3 hours: Vande Bharat to speed through India’s engineering marvels
The completion of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project is set to drastically reduce the travel time between Katra and Srinagar, according to Himanshu Shekhar Upadhyay, Chief Public Relations Officer of Northern Railway. The new Vande Bharat Express will cut the current 6-7 hour road journey down to just 3 hours.
"The Vande Bharat Express train will cut the Katra-Srinagar journey to just 3 hours, compared to the current 6-7 hours by road. At present, train services run between Srinagar and Sangaldan in the valley. Once the railway line from Sangaldan to Katra becomes operational, these trains can be extended to Katra," he said.
"The 18 km Banihal-Qazigund section was operational in 2013, the 25 km Udhampur-Katra in 2014, the Banihal to Sangaldan in 2023 and now the Sangaldan to Katra section will be operational. The world's tallest rail arch bridge, Chenab Bridge, is a part of this project. The tunnels, bridges and valleys will make rail travel more enjoyable," he added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate the Vande Bharat train on April 19, during a visit to Udhampur district in Jammu and Kashmir. The train will undertake the journey from Jammu to Srinagar via Katra.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh noted that the inaugural Vande Bharat service will temporarily begin from Katra due to ongoing construction at the Jammu railway station.
"PM Narendra Modi will visit Udhampur on April 19 to inaugurate the Jammu-Srinagar Vande Bharat, and the service is being started from Katra temporarily because of the Jammu railway station being under construction... This will be a grand event connecting Kashmir Valley to the rest of the country," Singh told reporters here.
Earlier this year, Indian Railways conducted a trial run of the first Vande Bharat train between Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra (SVDK) and Srinagar stations. The train will travel through landmarks such as the Anji Khad Bridge, India's first cable-stayed railway bridge, and the Chenab Bridge, the highest railway bridge in the world.
Designed with the cold climate of the Kashmir Valley in mind, the Vande Bharat Express is equipped to handle the region's harsh weather conditions.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw highlighted the international interest in the Vande Bharat trains, with several countries expressing a desire to import the semi-high-speed trains from India.
The Vande Bharat Express is seen as a triumph of India’s 'Make in India' initiative. The first Vande Bharat train, which made its debut on February 15, 2019, on the New Delhi-Kanpur-Allahabad-Varanasi route, has a maximum speed of 160 km/h.
(with ANI inputs)