Jammu, Jan 3: Northern Railway on Friday announced train timings for the Katra-Srinagar route, which is expected to be inaugurated after January 20. According to the timing schedule, the Vande Bharat Express train will depart from Katra at 8.10 a.m. and arrive in Srinagar at 11.20 a.m.
Mail Express will run twice every day from Katra — departure at 9.50 a.m. and arrival in Srinagar at 1.10 p.m.; departure at 3.00 p.m. and arrival in Srinagar at 6.20 p.m. Train timings from Srinagar to Katra for the Mail Express: departure from Srinagar at 8.55 a.m. and arrival in Katra at 12.05 p.m.
The second run will be at 3:10 pm and arrival in Katra is at 6:30 pm. Vande Bharat will depart from Srinagar at 12.45 p.m. and arrive in Katra at 3.55 p.m The Vande Bharat train will start a 7 p.m. from Delhi and arrive in Srinagar at 8 a.m. The Katra-Srinagar link of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Batamulla Rail Link (USBRL) was the most ambitious and difficult link of this project.
Technically, this rail link is seen as a marvel of engineering with very few parallels anywhere else in the world. It involves some of the most challenging portions, including the bridge over the Chenab River in Ramban district, which is higher than the Eiffel Tower of Paris.
The Chenab Rail Bridge is a steel and concrete arch bridge carrying a single-track railway line, located between Bakkal and Kauri in the Reasi district of the Jammu division. The bridge spans the Chenab River at a height of 359 m (1,178 ft) above the river, making it the World’s highest rail bridge and the World’s highest arch bridge.
The bridge was fully completed and was inaugurated in August 2022. It is built between the Sangaldan and the Reasi Railway stations. USBRL is a dream come true for millions of people living in the landlocked Valley. It will give a quantum leap to tourism, trade, horticulture, and education and also change the very concept of travel to Kashmir Valley.
IANS