Vande Bharat express to run in Kashmir by next year: Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

Union railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday hoped that trains to Kashmir, including ‘Vande Bharat’, may start chugging on the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link (USBRL) project by January next year.

After conducting an inspection of the world’s highest rail bridge over the Chenab river in Reasi’s Kouri village on a trolley, Vaishnaw described it as a proud moment for the nation.

“It’s a dream project of the Prime Minister. Today, we conducted a trolley inspection of the bridge. A lot of hard work has gone into the design of the bridge, which has world-class features. The bridge has come up at a height of 359 meters above the riverbed, the highest rail bridge in the world and 28,000 tonnes of steel has gone into it.”

“The one side of the foundation of this bridge is equal to half of the soccer field. The foundations have been made with a technology to resist 8-magnitude quakes on the Richter scale,” he said.

Similarly, 18,000 bars and cables were used to provide strong foundations and a stable bridge, he added.

Vaishnaw also informed that the bridge was equipped with several other technical parameters.

“In the event of a quake, seismic waves from foundations to the bridge structure above would be checked by bearings. While the impact of the quake will be tolerated by the foundations, the bearings will not allow the waves to travel into the structure above,” he said.

The eco-fragile Himalayan region of Jammu and Kashmir falls in seismic zone 4 and 5, making it highly vulnerable to quakes.

The work on the USBRL project had started in 2005-06.

“On PM’s intervention, the work picked up momentum in 2014. Here, I would like to say that on PM’s suggestion to design the bridge for at least 100 years, the engineers have designed it for 120 years,” he said.

The bridge can also withstand strong winds up to the speed of 266 km per hour.

“Once we complete other allied works, including another bridge over Anji Nullah (rivulet), Vande Bharat will start running on this route as well. We expect the completion of the project around December this year or by January next year,” he said.

The bridge has come up at a cost of ₹1,548 crore. This year in February, the track-laying work on the bridge had begun.

The 1.3-km-long bridge, which is 35 metres higher than the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris, forms a crucial link in the 111-km stretch from Katra to Banihal, which is part of the ₹21,653 crore Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Link (USBRL) project.

On August 13 last year, just two days before Independence Day, the overarch deck of the bridge was completed with a golden joint.

The base of the steel and concrete arch bridge between Bakkal and Kouri, 42 km from Reasi town, was completed in November 2017, paving the way for the construction of the main arch, which was done in April 2021.

The golden joint on August 13 last year had paved the way for engineers to lay tracks on the bridge. With tracks over it, Kashmir will be linked with the rest of India via rail network for the first time since the Independence.

In view of the importance of the USBRL (Udhampur Srinagar Baramulla Rail Line) project in providing seamless and hassle-free connectivity, the 272-km-long project was declared a “national project” in 2002.