Jammu, Feb 11: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the train to Kashmir Valley on February 17 to fulfil the over 70-year-old dream of a rail service to the landlocked valley.

With its commercial inauguration by PM Modi, the Vande Bharat train will chug on the most ambitious railway project ever built in India and one of the most difficult and challenging tracks in the world.

The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project is a technological marvel that includes India’s first cable-stayed Anji Khad Bridge that has a 331-metre high pylon.

The Chenab Railway Bridge is the tallest railway bridge in the world, standing 359 metres above the river bed. This bridge is also the world’s highest arch bridge.

The USBRL includes over two dozen small and large tunnels that make the journey shorter for the Vande Bharat train, which has been designed with climate-friendly technology.

Its air-brake system is optimised for maximum efficacy in sub-zero temperatures.

The train will have fully air-conditioned coaches, automatic plug doors, mobile charging sockets, facility to order food and many more, including a special defrosting mechanism for the driver’s windshield.

While inaugurating the Sonamarg tunnel, PM Modi had promised the people of Jammu and Kashmir that he would soon make the dream of a rail link between the Valley and the rest of the country a reality.

With an all-weather rail link, the uncertainties of climate affecting the present Jammu-Srinagar National Highway will become a thing of the past.

The train to Kashmir Valley will boost tourism, horticulture, industries, education and also benefit citizens.

The train will take a travel time of 13 hours from Delhi to Srinagar.

The present compulsory deboarding at Katra railway station will end in August this year when the renovation and upgradation of the railway station at Jammu will be completed in line with the requirements of the state-of-the-art Vande Bharat train service.

--IANS

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