USBRL Project likely to be completed within one month
Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Dec 13: Ambitious Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) Project today achieved historic milestone with the completion of final track work for the tunnel connecting Katra to Reasi.
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The information in this regard was shared by the Railway Minister Ahwini Vaishnaw, through a post on social media.
“The ballast-less track work for the 3.2-km-long Tunnel T-33, located at the foothills of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine and connecting Katra to Reasi, was successfully completed today at 02:00 hrs,” he posted on X, describing the achievement as `historic milestone’ .
Official sources told the Excelsior that with the completion of final track work for the Tunnel T-33 between Katra and Reasi Stations, the Udhampur- Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) Project is likely to be declared fully finished by the end of this month for chugging of train between Jammu and Kashmir in the first month of upcoming new year.
“Commissioner Railway Safety is likely to visit the site on December 16-17 for inspection of the Track and after six to 12 trial runs of the train on this 17 km long stretch between Reasi and Katra Stations, certification process is expected to be completed by ending of the current month,” sources explained.
Breakthrough of this 3209 meter long Tunnel T-33 between Katra and Reasi Stations was achieved in last December. Excavation in this stretch of Katra-Banihal section had been a daunting challenge due to the presence of shear zone coupled with high ingress of water, which were delaying progress on the work.
With today’s achievement, now all the tunnels for rail link to Kashmir are ready under USBRL Project, which is almost completed and likely to be fully accomplished in next few days.
Tunnel T-33 is located at the foothills of Trikuta Hills near Katra in Reasi district and is being constructed by Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd, for Northern Railway under the USBRL National Project.
According to the sources, completion of track laying will be followed by electrification, signaling etc and only a few days are required to finish the pending work if no major trouble is detected during the inspection and trail runs.
Spanning 272 km, the USBRL is a national project aimed at establishing a broad-gauge railway line through the Himalayas. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to inaugurate the final 17-km stretch between Katra and Reasi, and the first direct train from Kashmir to Delhi is set to begin operations in January. The train is anticipated to cover the 800-km journey in less than 13 hours.
Phase I of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail link Project (USBRL) project, covering the 118-km-long Qazigund-Baramulla section, was first inaugurated in October 2009. Subsequent phases saw the inauguration of the 18 km long Banihal-Qazigund section in June 2013 and the 25-km-long Udhampur-Katra section in July 2014. In February, the first electric train trial run from Banihal to Khari to Sangaldan section on the Banihal-Katra section of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project in Ramban was successfully conducted on around 40 km of track and tunnels between Banihal and Sangaldan Railway Stations in Ramban district.
The USBRL Project involves 38 Tunnels (combined length of 119Km), the longest tunnel (T-49) is having a length of 12.75 km and is country’s longest transportation tunnel. There are 927 bridges (combined length of 13 km). These bridges include the iconic Chenab bridge (overall length 1315 m, arch span of 467 m and height of 359 m above river bed) which is around 35 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower and is pegged to be the World’s highest arch railway bridge.
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