STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Commissioner of Railways Safety (CRS) D C Deshwal will conduct a two-day inspection of the 46-km Sangaldan-Reasi section, which passes through the world’s highest steel arch rail bridge over Chenab and major tunnels, later this month, an official said on Sunday.
Chief Public Relations Officer, Northern Railway, Deepak Kumar said the commissioning of this section depends on the CRS’s inspection of this vital section of the ambitious Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail link (USBRL) on June 27 and 28.
“The works of Sangaldan to Reasi will be completed before the scheduled inspection of CRS,” he told PTI.
Out of the total 272 km USBRL project, 209 km was commissioned in phases with the first phase of the 118 km Qazigund-Baramulla section commissioned in October 2009 followed by 18 km Banihal-Qazigund in June 2013, 25 km Udhampur-Katra in July 2014 and 48.1 km long Banihal-Sangaldan stretch in February, this year.
With the commissioning of the 46 km Sangaldan-Reasi section, the work on only a 17 km stretch between Reasi and Katra remains pending which is likely to be completed by the year’s end to connect Kashmir with the rest of the country by train – a dream project on which the work started in 1997 and has missed several deadlines given geological, topographical, and meteorological challenges.
Official sources said the flagging of the first train between Sangaldan to Reasi is likely to be done on June 30, connecting the Reasi district in Jammu to Kashmir via railway line.
Last month, the General Manager of Northern Railway Shobhan Chaudhuri inspected the Chenab Bridge up to Sangaldan station via Motor Trolley, assessing the track, Electrical and Mechanical system and signal telecom works in the Bakkal-Duggar-Sawalkote-Sangaldan section.
Chaudhuri also conducted balance activities for completing the work of Sawalkote yard, Tunnels T-42 and T-43 with engineers of Northern Railway, IRCON and Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL).
“The train service from #Ramban (Sangaldan) to #Reasi via the world’s highest railway bridge built on river Chenab to begin soon. The #Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (#USBRL) project will be completed by year-end,” Union Minister Jitendra Singh wrote on ‘X’.
The 1.3 km Chenab rail bridge located 359 meters above the riverbed, 35 meters higher than the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris, forms a crucial link of the project. The Jammu and Kashmir Administration had already announced plans to develop the bridge as a ‘tourist spot’.