On his maiden trip to the temple city Katra, Railway Minster Ashwini Vaishnaw boarded the semi high speed Vande Bharat Express train from SMVD Katra for Jammu. While en route to Jammu, he interacted with the passengers on board and took direct feedback from the passengers about the Railways system.
On a single day visit to Katra, he visited the SMVD Katra railway station where he laid the foundation stone for enhanced infrastructure and passenger amenities at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra station. He reviewed the ongoing work on the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla-Rail-Link Project (USBRL).
The Minister laid the foundation stone for increasing infrastructure for initiating the Katra-Banihal rail section, which is underway under the USBRL project. He interacted with the pilgrims who had travelled from different parts of the country to visit the shrine.
The Udhampur-Srinagar-Banihal ( USBRL) Rail Link Project is of national importance as after the completion of the project Jammu will be linked to Srinagar through the rail route.
Railway Minister took a review of the USBRL project which is at its last leg. The project which is to link Jammu to Srinagar Valley through an all-weather rail line is being built at a cost of Rs 27,949 crore.
The construction of the rail line in the young fold, seismically active Himalayan region has been a challenge. Three sections from Banihal-Baramulla have already been completed and made operational. The fourth and final leg of the project 111 Km between Katra-Banihal is the most challenging as 97 km of the route is in tunnels.
There are 7 stations proposed in the section. Due to the paucity of flat space, some of the stations are to be within tunnels or bridges. The route is to be completely electrified. This section also boosts iconic structures; the Chenab bridge and the Anji bridge.
The Chenab bridge is an arch bridge 359 m above the river bed. When complete this will be the highest railway bridge in the world. The arch of the bridge has been laid and the deck laying process has recently been initiated. While the Anji bridge is India’s first cable-stayed railway bridge.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, ” The aspirations of the people of Jammu & Kashmir has to be fulfilled by completing the project so that the region gets a good transportation system to remain connected to the rest of the country all the year-round”.
Later the minister boarded the semi-high speed express train ‘Vande Bharat’ from Katra for Jammu. There were many passengers who shared their feedback and suggestions for changes in the Railway system.
The Minister then foot-platted some distance in the driver’s cabin of the Vande Bharat Express. On alighting from the train at Jammu, the minister inspected the redevelopment plan of Jammu-Tawi station and took stock of the passenger facilities there
