It’s a dream come true for the people of Kashmir Valley: the Vande Bharat train did its first trial and reached Srinagar railway station for the first time ever.
It is for the first time in the history of Independent India that Kashmir Valley would be connected to the rest of the country via rail link. Both the People of Jammu and Kashmir and tourists are excited for the railway link to start for the public.
The Srinagar-New Delhi rail link has been in the making for the past 20 years and finally the time has come for Srinagar to be connected to New Delhi via rail.
According to government sources, the Vande Bharat train service from New Delhi to Katra to Srinagar would be inaugurated and started from February onwards. The trials have been done and successful.
”The vision of our Prime Minister to connect Kashmir with the rest of the Country’s rail network, resulted in a very fast execution of the railway project in the last ten years. Fruits of that hard work are what we are witnessing today by seeing the Vande Bharat train arrive in Kashmir. Today’s trial run was to see how much time it’s taking so that we can run an easy time table, It’s going to be an all-weather connectivity which will benefit local and tourists coming to the Valley. The airfares are immensely high, and it’s going to be a game changer and going to be a much cheaper mode of transport,” said Saqib Yousuf Yatoo, Chief Area Manager, Kashmir Railway.
A long wait is over for Kashmiris
Kashmiri people have been waiting for decades for the Srinagar-New Delhi rail link. And since the announcement of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav saying a historic milestone has been achieved by completing the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link, there has been cheer among every community in the Valley: from businessmen to students, and from tourists to non-local workers.
The tourist stakeholders have been the happiest with the news of rail link between Srinagar- New Delhi as Kashmir Valley is a tourist destination and the maximum impact of having a rail link will be on this industry.
Kashmir Valley is waiting for a tourist boom after the start of the service as it would be a cheap and easy mode of transport for coming to the Valley.
”We are very thrilled to see the Vande Bharat Train, which will connect the Kashmir Valley to the rest of the country for the first time. We have been waiting for this wonderful thing to arrive for a long time and it will be hugely beneficial for the locals and tourists and for every citizen,” said Sikandar, a local.
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Rail line on the most difficult Himalayan terrain
The 800-kilometre railway track from Srinagar to New Delhi would be covered within 13 hours of travel time plus a stopover at Katra where the passengers will have to deboard the train.
The railway track which runs on the most difficult terrain of Himalayas will have more bridges and tunnels than any other line in the whole of India. The track will have around 931 bridges with 38 tunnels. It also includes the longest train tunnel – Pir Panjal Railway Tunnel measuring 11.21kms – and the world’s highest bridge over the Chenab river, with a height of 359 metres, making it higher than the Eiffel Tower of Paris.
The tourists coming to Kashmir Valley have welcomed the step, saying that a train service to Srinagar would mean less cost and affordable travel for the middle class.
Security remains a concern
Security remains one of the major concerns for the authorities in Jammu and Kashmir for the rail service.
And most of the security arrangements have already been put in place on the track with two wings of security, with the Railway Police Security or RPF and General Railway Police or GRP fully dedicated to the security of railway stations and tracks.
There will be CCTV connectivity at every station, every tunnel and bridge.
These will be controlled round the clock by railway and security officials in several sub-control rooms.