Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Vande Bharat Express connecting Kashmir with New Delhi on the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) in January, Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh said on Tuesday.
The Vande Bharat Express train will directly connect the national capital with Kashmir from January 2025. The train will pass through the world’s highest railway bridge, the Chenab Rail Bridge.
Railways has completed 255 km of the 272 km of USBRL project, only a small portion of 17 km between Katra and Reasi is to be completed by December. Ravneet Singh said that the inauguration will take place in January as per the Prime Minister’s schedule. According to railway officials, the project is expected to be completed by December this year.
Every aspect is being investigated
Railway officials said that every single aspect has to be checked and all these things are being thoroughly inspected on a large scale and officials and technical teams are visiting repeatedly to ensure that everything is up to standard. A lot of hard work has gone into this project. It is a huge undertaking. Once every aspect is verified, only then the date of its inauguration will be decided.
There is also a plan to run Vande Bharat till Kashmir
There is a proposal to run Vande Bharat Express on this route as soon as rail connectivity is established from Katra to Srinagar. Vande Bharat Express, manufactured at Chennai’s Rail Coach Factory, has already been put on tracks in various parts of the country. A train with fewer coaches will be run on this route.
Proposal for these trains was prepared
As soon as this project is completed, 32 trains (up-down) will be run on the tracks. Under this, train number 12425/26 New Delhi to Jammu Tawi, 12445/46 New Delhi to Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, 16031/32 Chennai Central to Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, 11449/50 Jabalpur to Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, 16787/88 Tirunelveli to Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, 16317/18 Kanyakumari to Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, 19803/04 Kota to Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, 12331/32 Howrah to Jammu Tawi and seven other trains are included.
Built the world’s tallest Chenab Bridge
This project also includes the world’s highest Chenab Bridge. There are a total of 38 tunnels in the project. The largest tunnel in it is 12.75 kilometers long. There are also 927 bridges, including the Chenab Bridge. Its length is 1375 meters, the length of the archer is 467 meters and height is 359 meters. This bridge, about 35 meters higher than the Eiffel Tower, is considered the highest Archer Bridge.
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