PM to travel in train from Chenab bridge to Katra, inaugurate two vital bridges enroute

Rly workers invited for travel in inaugural Vande Bharat

Kashmir to Kanyakumari event planned at Railway Station

Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Apr 11: Before inauguration of Vande Bharat train to Kashmir from holy town of Katra, the base camp of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Ji shrine on April 19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel from Chenab railway bridge to Katra in train during which he will inaugurate and inspect the highest bridge as well as cable stayed bridge, which have become the engineering marvel and are being talked about across the country.

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Yet another significant decision, the Railways have invited large number of workers who were associated with one of the most toughest project in history of the Railways including those who retired during the services to travel from Katra to Srinagar and Baramulla in the inaugural Vande Bharat train.
Official sources told the Excelsior that after landing at Chenab rail bridge, the world’s highest railway bridge from Udhampur airport, the Prime Minister will inaugurate and have an inspection of the bridge which is 1178 feet high, 82 feet more than the Eiffel tower of France.
The Prime Minister will travel in train from Chenab railway bridge up to Katra and enroute will also inaugurate Anji Khad bridge, which is another engineering marvel as it is India’s first Cable Stayed bridge. He will also inspect the bridge.
He will reach Katra by train and flag off Vande Bharat train from Katra to Baramulla, Simultaneously, he will virtually flag off another train from Baramulla to Katra, the officials said.
Modi will then address a rally at Katra, his second in last seven months before flying back to Udhampur airport on way back to New Delhi. He had addressed an election rally at Katra during Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir in September last year.
“The Vande Bharat train which the Prime Minister will flag off from Katra to Baramulla will carry large number of Railways workers who have been invited for travel in the inaugural train. They worked on the world’s most tough railway project from Udhampur to Baramulla. The workers who have retired have also been invited,” the officials said describing the decision as fitting tribute to the people associated with the project.
In line with the BJP’s popular slogan of `Kashmir to Kanyakumari, India is one’, the sources, said a half an hour long event has been planned at Katra railway station which will also be witnessed by the Prime Minister. The programme will be presented by the school children.
Inauguration of train by the Prime Minister from Katra will end wait of several decades for direct train to Kashmir as presently the train services are operational between Sangaldan to Baramulla and from across the country to Katra.
Initially the train will run from Katra to Baramulla. However, after completion of expansion work at Jammu Railway Station including increase in number of platforms, the train to Valley will start operations from Jammu, most likely in August.
To begin with, there will be no direct train from Delhi or any other part to Kashmir.
Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan visited Katra few days back and reviewed launch of train service to Kashmir with particular reference to all security aspects.
Several trials of train from Katra to Baramulla including that of Vande Bharat have been successful and now security issues have also been taken into account, the sources said.
Out of the total 272-kilometer, Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project, 209 kilometer was commissioned in phases with the first phase of the 118-kilometre Qazigund-Baramulla section commissioned in October 2009, followed by 18-kilometre Banihal-Qazigund in June 2013, 25-kilometre Udhampur-Katra in July 2014 and 48.1-kilometre long Banihal-Sangaldan stretch in February, last year.
The work on the 46- kilometer Sangaldan-Reasi section was also completed in June last year, leaving a total of 17 kilometer stretch between Reasi and Katra which was also completed nearly three months back leading to start of different trials of trains including that of Vande Bharat.
The project involved a cost of Rs 41,000 crore
On January 4, a successful trial run of an electric train was successfully conducted on the Katra-Banihal section. The Railways have conducted series of trials over the past few months on various segments of the track, including the two major milestones of the Anji Khad and Chenab bridges.

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