On Saturday morning, when the first Vande Bharat train along with 530 passengers rang a whistle at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi railway station here, it marked the beginning of the journey to Kashmir through various engineering miracles and three major geological loud bodies – Rasi, Muri and Panjal.
An electrically inspired engine intensified eight coaches of Vande India from Katra to Srinagar railway station, 189 km at 8:10 am. Of this, 78 km falls between Banihal and Srinagar and between Katra and Banihal between 111 km.
This 111 km is about 97 km 27 tunnels, while more than another 7 km 49 bridges, including the iconic rail arch bridge on the chainb and the cable-sight bridges above the fig.
As the train surpassed Katra Town and entered the first 330-meter tunnel (T33) towards Mohammad Yasen, a young geological engineer from Kashmir, said, “I have worked on its excavation.”
Yasin was on his home in Kashmir to celebrate Eid with his parents, wife and child.
Currently working on a railway line in Rishikesh, he reached Katra on Saturday morning and Vande rode in India for Srinagar. “My brother, who is coming home by air, is still at Jammu Airport, while I almost reached Srinagar,” he said.
Many passengers were pilgrims and tourists of Vaishno Devi, who changed their plans at the last minute to take a historic ride.
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Deepak Gupta, a government teacher from Uttar Pradesh, who came to “Darshan” with two younger brothers, was among them. “Given the ticket for Saturday, Vande was available for Kashmir in India, we decided to visit the valley,” he said.
The three will visit Vaishno Devi Tirtha near Katra on their return journey.
Anil Bhat, an IT engineer, who moved to Jammu with his parents in Kupwara district after the explosion of terrorism in 1990, said that he is going to Kashmir after 35 years. Stating that he was 10 years old when his parents exited the valley, he said that he had some unconscious memories of his original place.
With his parents, wife and a teenage daughter, Anil said that 77 -year -old his father Mohan Lal Bhat was visiting Kashmir after 20 years.
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He said, “We only wanted to find the train travel and bridge,” he said that he had parked his car at Katra railway station. “We will stay in Srinagar for two-three days and I can go to my original place in Kupwara.”
Since the train went to India’s tallest and first cable-sided rail bridge over Anji Khad and the world’s highest rail bridge on the world’s highest rail bridge, Pir Panjal and Himalayas went against the background, passengers were astonishing.
“Our engineers have made it possible with their courage and determination,” said Kalpna Khatri, a housewife going to Kashmir for a holiday with her husband and son. “We are very excited because we will be in Srinagar in just three hours. It took about eight hours when we took a car last time.”
The train also connects people and places in isolated and rugged Shivlik and Pir Panjal Range, said Alam Deen of Sopore, who went to meet Kashmir with his friends to celebrate Eid.
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“If it was not for the train, I would have celebrated Eid at home in Jammu,” he said. Alam also informed that the train will help people in Kashmir to reach super-specialty hospitals outside the valley.
The Katra-Srinagar railway line 272-km has an important part of the Udhampur-Sirinagar-Baramulla rail link (USBRL), which has been built at a cost of Rs 43,780 crore.
With hot windshield, advanced heating system and untouched toilets, the train is designed to cross the challenging geography of the region.
During winter, a ice -removal locomotive engine will proceed to clean the tracks, while offering a safe and smooth journey in this high -risk area, seismic dampers have been installed to absorb tremors, officials said.
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Determined to run six days a week, it has been deployed in the chorus commandos train, in addition to the employees dedicated to maintenance.
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