New Delhi [India], April 1 (ANI): Northern Railway's Chief Public Relations Officer, Himanshu Shekhar Upadhyay, on Monday said that the completion of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project will significantly reduce travel time between Katra and Srinagar. The new Vande Bharat Express will cut down the travel time from the current 6-7 hours by road to just 3 hours.

'The Vande Bharat Express train will cut the Katra-Srinagar journey to just 3 hours, compared to the current 6-7 hours by road. At present, train services run between Srinagar and Sangaldan in the valley. Once the railway line from Sangaldan to Katra becomes operational, these trains can be extended to Katra,' he said.

Upadhyay said that the USBRL project Qazigund-Baramulla section was started in the year 2009.

'The 18 km Banihal-Qazigund section was operational in 2013, the 25 km Udhampur-Katra in 2014, the Banihal to Sangaldan in 2023 and now the Sangaldan to Katra section will be operational. The world's tallest rail arch bridge, Chenab Bridge, is a part of this project. The tunnels, bridges and valleys will make rail travel more enjoyable,' he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur district to inaugurate the Vande Bharat train, which will undertake the journey from Jammu to Srinagar via Katra district, on April 19.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh said that the train services for the inaugural Vande Bharat would start from Katra, temporarily, since the Jammu railway station remains under construction.

Highlighting the importance of the inaugural event, the Union Minister said that the Vande Bharat would connect the Kashmir Valley to the rest of the country.

'PM Narendra Modi will visit Udhampur on April 19 to inaugurate the Jammu-Srinagar Vande Bharat, and the service is being started from Katra temporarily because of the Jammu railway station being under construction... This will be a grand event connecting Kashmir Valley to the rest of the country,' Singh told reporters here.

On January 23, Indian Railways conducted the trial run of the first Vande Bharat train from the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra (SVDK) railway station to the Srinagar railway station. The train will run through Anji Khad Bridge which is India's first cable-stayed railway bridge and Chenab Bridge which is the highest railway bridge in the world.

This train has been designed keeping in mind the cold climate conditions of the Kashmir valley.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that several countries had shown interest in importing semi-high-speed Vande Bharat trains from India.

Indian Railways launched India's first indigenous semi-high-speed train Vande Bharat Express and it is regarded as a 'Make in India' success story.

The first Vande Bharat Express train was flagged off on February 15, 2019, on the New Delhi-Kanpur-Allahabad-Varanasi route, running at a speed of 160 kilometres per hour. (ANI)