Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said the political will shown by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in over a decade led to the completion of the 272-km Udhampur-Baramulla-Srinagar Railway link (USBRL) project to connect Kashmir with rest of the country.
On Friday, the prime minister is scheduled to inaugurate the world’s tallest railway bridge over Chenab and the country’s first cable-stayed railway Anji Bridge before flagging off two Vande Bharat trains – one from Katra to Srinagar and another from Kashmir to Katra.
Modi will also lay the foundation of and dedicate to the nation multiple development projects worth over Rs 46,000 crore at Katra, the base camp for the pilgrims visiting the Vaishno Devi shrine atop the Trikuta hills.
“When you have to do a project like USBRL, it needs political will. From 2004 to 2014, the project saw the completion of railway tracks in plain areas with no work done in difficult zones.
“Modi demonstrated the political will, guidance and support to the technical teams and that is the reason, this long-standing dream is fulfilled today,” Vaishnaw told reporters here.
The work on the dream project to link Kashmir by train was started in 1997. The project missed several deadlines given the geological, topographical and meteorological challenges, leading to cost escalation and its completion at a cost of over Rs 41,000 crore.
Out of the total 272-km USBRL project, 209 km was commissioned in phases with the first phase of the 118-km Qazigund-Baramulla section commissioned in October 2009 followed by 18-km Banihal-Qazigund in June 2013, 25-km Udhampur-Katra in July 2014 and 48.1-km Banihal-Sangaldan stretch in February last year.
The work on the 46-km Sangaldan-Reasi section was also completed in June last year, leaving a 17-km stretch between Reasi and Katra which was finally completed in December last year.
The minister said the 1.3-km Chenab railway bridge, located 359 metres above the riverbed — 35 metres higher than the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris — forms a crucial link in the 111-km stretch from Katra to Banihal. It is a huge technical marvel completed after overcoming many challenges, he said.
“If technical parameters are taken into account, this bridge is designed in such a way to withstand 260 km per hour wind speed. Since the bridge area falls within seismic Zone V, its design was a complex process,” he said.
The minister said the foundation of the bridge is half of the football field and 30,000 tonnes of steel was used in the making of this bridge which is the world’s tallest arch railway bridge.
Similarly, he said, the Anji Khad bridge is equally important as it is the first cable-stayed railway bridge in the country.
“There are many such bridges on the highways as the load of a truck is about 35 to 40 tonnes while a train weighs around 4,000 tonnes. So, generally, cable-stayed bridges are not constructed on railway tracks,” he said.
He said the specially designed cable-stayed bridge and the arch bridge were designed because there was no space for the construction of pyers over the Anji River.
Vaishnaw said 97 km of 111-km track along the Katra-Banihal section is going through tunnels because of the special topography of the region, which is completely different from other parts of the country.
“We found a new way of tunnelling called Himalayan tunnelling method which is the result of technical innovation carried out by the Railways. It is also a great achievement for the country,” he said.
Assuring a great experience for the travellers while enjoying a train trip to Kashmir, the minister said all necessary steps have been taken for the security and safety of the commuters.
“The tunnel construction was done in such a way as to ensure the comfort of the travellers. The service will prove a great facility for the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
The minister said the Jammu railway division of the Northern Railways recently conducted an experiment to transport cherry parcel vans from Katra to Mumbai and many more facilities would be included as time passes.
“We are setting up four terminals — one each in the valley, Jammu, Katra and Udhampur — within one and a half years which will facilitate transportation of goods to and from J-K. Overall, the Kashmir rail link will bring a positive change in the lives of the local population,” he said.
