Safety has been stepped up throughout Jammu and Kashmir forward of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled go to to Jammu province on April 19 to flag off the primary Vande Bharat prepare between Katra and Srinagar, lastly making the lengthy awaited dream of many to have Kashmir Valley related with the Indian railway community come true.
Two Vande Bharat Categorical trains — one from Srinagar to Katra and one other from Katra to Srinagar — will run on the inauguration day.
A particular Vande Bharat prepare’s trial run was efficiently performed on Tuesday on the Katra-Sangaldan part of the 272-km Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Line (USBRL) which connects Kashmir with the remainder of the nation.
At current, the prepare runs between Ramban’s Sangaldaan to Srinagar and Baramulla, however it is just the truncated railway line and the stretch between Sangaldan and Katra shall be made operational on April 19.
From the Jammu facet, the prepare runs solely as much as Katra, which acts as a base camp for Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine within the Trikuta Hills.
The concept to attach Kashmir with a railway line between Jammu and Srinagar was first conceived by Maharaja Pratap Singh in 1898. In 1905, he permitted the development of a slender 762 mm gauge railway line through Reasi.
The then princely state of Jammu and Kashmir was already related with the Indian rail grid with a line between Jammu and Sialkot, however with the latter going to Pakistan following the partition in 1947, the then state bought disconnected from the Indian railway community.
Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Line
Constructed at a price of practically Rs 37,000 crore, the USBRL has been accomplished in phases over a interval of 42 years.
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Whereas the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had laid the muse stone of Udhampur-Srianagar railway line in 1983, the work on the venture gained momentum after the Atal Behari Vajpayee authorities declared it a nationwide venture in 2002.
The 118-km Qazigund-Baramulla part was commissioned in October 2009, adopted by 18-km stretch between Qazigund and Banihal in June 2013, Udhampur-Katra (25 kms) in July 2014 and Banihal-Sangaldan (48.1 km) stretch in February 2024.
The remaining 63-km Katra-Sangaldan part is scheduled to be commissioned on April 19.
The railway line passes via the foothills of Himalayas and Pir Panjal vary, with many peaks exceeding 15,000 ft. Of the full 272-km lengthy USBRL, practically 119 kms cross via 38 tunnels and one other 13 kms has over 927 bridges.
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With 28,000 metric tonnes of metal utilized in its building, the world’s tallest railway bridge over Chenab river – 359 meter excessive from the river mattress and 35 meter taller than the long-lasting Eiffel Tower– and the nation’s first cable-stayed railway bridge falls on the Katra-Sangaldan part.
The nation’s longest rail tunnel (12.75 kms) falls on the Katra-Banihal part, which is adopted by 11 km lengthy Pir Punjal railway tunnel connecting Jammu’s Banihal with Kashmir’s Qazigund.
The Railways performed the primary trial run of Vande Bharat prepare from Katra to Srinagar on January 23 this yr. Excessive tech cameras have been put in alongside the railway observe particularly contained in the tunnels and bridges to test any untoward incident.
The absolutely air conditioned prepare can have a particular defrosting mechanism to keep away from accumulation of frost on the motive force’s windshield. Its air-brake system has been optimised for optimum effectivity in sub-zero temperatures, sources stated. The Vande Bharat prepare will take 13 hours to achieve Srinagar from Delhi and it’ll cowl the journey between Katra and Srinagar in two hours and 10 minutes.
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The prepare won’t solely cut back the journey time between Jammu and Srinagar, but additionally make disruptions in journey by street as a result of uncertainties of local weather a factor of the previous. The rail hyperlink between Srinagar and Jammu may even guarantee clean passage of Kashmir apple, handicraft and different merchandise to markets throughout the nation, sources stated.