NEW DELHI: Setting the stage for running of regular trains between Jammu and Srinagar, the Commissioner for Railway Safety (CRS) has given the go ahead for the recently laid Katra-Reasi section of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail (USRBL) project in J&K. Trains will be allowed to run at a maximum speed of 85 kmph on normal lines and 15 kmph on the loop line of a station.
For security reasons, trains will operate only during day time between Jammu and Srinagar and there will be separate boarding at Katra for Srinagar-bound trains, with stricter security checks. For the time being, there won’t be non-stop trains from Delhi or other cities to Srinagar, sources said.
In its seven-page report, the CRS has sought compliance of certain conditions and stipulations before starting regular train operations. Railway officials said there will be full compliance of norms. “We have never been in a hurry to start train operations as safety is top priority,” an official said.
Though the official date for the inaugural run on the section has not been announced, sources said this would likely be conducted this month. They did not rule out the possibility of Jan 23, which is celebrated as Parakram Diwas, the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The railways has readied an eight-coach Jammu-Kashmir Vande Bharat train for the debut run. It has been designed to operate in extreme cold conditions as low as -20 degrees Celsius.
The CRS has also recommended “abundant caution” for the Anji cable-stayed bridge. It had suggested “appropriate instrumentation of the bridge to monitor any unusual stress fluctuation, permanent deformation and changes in stiffness”.
The construction of the first three phases of the USRBL project was completed by 2014. Trains have been running between Baramulla and Banihal in the Kashmir Valley and between Jammu, Udhampur and Katra in the Jammu region, the 111-km long Banihal-Katra section was the most difficult to construct due to its geology.
The 48-km section from Banihal to Sangaldan was commissioned in Feb 2024 and the 46-km Sangaldan-Reasi section received CRS authorisation on July 1, 2024. Katra to Reasi was the last leg.
CRS, Northern Circle, Dinesh Chand Deshwal, had said for the Katra-Reasi stretch of the USBRL, a detailed investigation was conducted, especially because of its topography and terrain and the authorisation was granted to the Northern Railway. “There was no lacuna found in the project, the infrastructure is outstanding. It is a good project. Now, the entire link is getting connected and the dream of a train to Kashmir will come true soon,” he had said.
