Jammu: Regular services of the Vande Bharat Express between Srinagar and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra has commenced today (Saturday), offering a major reduction in travel time between the two key locations.

Northern Railway has confirmed that the semi-high-speed train will run six days a week, slashing the journey time from the current six to seven hours by road to just three hours. This development is being hailed as a transformative step for connectivity within the region.

The new Vande Bharat service will operate two pairs of trains — numbered 26404/26403 and 26401/26402 — on the Srinagar–Katra–Srinagar route, with a scheduled stop at Banihal.

These state-of-the-art trains have been specially designed to withstand extreme winter conditions and come equipped with advanced features, including heated windshields, thermally insulated lavatories, driver visibility defrosting systems, and onboard heating to ensure reliable performance during harsh weather.

The service follows the successful completion of the 272-kilometre Udhampur–Srinagar–Baramulla rail link — a long-awaited engineering milestone that includes the world’s highest railway arch bridge over the Chenab River.

Prior to this, rail connectivity in the region was fragmented, with services limited to the Banihal–Baramulla stretch in the Kashmir Valley and Jammu–Udhampur–Katra in the Jammu region.

Flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, the inaugural run of the Vande Bharat Express marks a historic moment in the integration of Jammu and Kashmir’s transport network.

The new service is expected to not only benefit local residents and tourists but also ease travel for pilgrims heading to the Vaishno Devi shrine, one of India's most revered pilgrimage sites.