The 271 km long Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project connecting Kashmir directly to New Delhi is almost complete. The leakages of 3.2 km long T33 tunnel, which was the biggest hurdle for the last one year, has been closed and rail tracks are also laid.
This tunnel is part of the 18 km long Reasi-Katra section, the sixth and last phase of this project. The first trial will be conducted on Wednesday by running a tower wagon coach on this track.
Stoppages in the route:
This train will have a total of 11 stoppages from New Delhi to Ambala Cantt, Ludhiana, Pathankot, Jammu Tawi, Katra, Sawalkot, Banihal, Qazikund, Awantipora, Srinagar and finally Baramulla station.
This train will have an AC 3, chair car and first-class coach. The estimated fare of AC 3 (CC) is Rs 2000-2500 and for AC-1 (EC) is up to Rs 4000. The train will also have hot water tanks, which will keep the water pipes warm.
According to highly placed sources of the railways, after the CRS inspection in the first week of January, preparations are being made to run a train from New Delhi to Srinagar before 26th January.
Currently, Vande Bharat train is from Delhi to Katra. There are 3 categories of Chair cars in the train and the fares range from Rs 1650 to Rs 3000. This train will be extended to Srinagar. Later, new trains will also run. Northern Railway PRO Himanshu Shekhar Upadhyay has said that many teams are working 24 hours.
According to the officers, 800 kms and the 13-hour journey will have the fare between Rs 2000 and Rs 4000. The journey is long due to which AC sleeper coaches can be installed in the train. Currently, the airfare from Delhi to Srinagar is between Rs 5000 and Rs 12000.
There are 38 tunnels and 927 bridges on the route. Till now, 10 lakh devotees have reached Mata Vaishno Devi temple in 2024. Now these devotees will get to see the beautiful valleys of Kashmir from Banihal to Baramulla in a single journey.