Shadow Correspondent
Jammu, Feb 11 :
Prime Minister Narendra Modi may flag off Vande Bharat Express to the Kashmir Valley in the third week of this month, likely from Katra town of Reasi district in Jammu and Kashmir.
Official sources said that the Prime Minister is expected to flag off the specially designed Vande Bharat Express likely from the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Railway Station, Katra, in the Reasi district, marking a significant milestone in the completion of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project.
The tentative date for the
PM Modi expected to flag
flag-off has been fixed for February 17, but an official announcement is yet to be made by the PMO, they said.
Indian Railways has conducted multiple successful trial runs, traversing some of the nation’s most iconic bridges.
On January 24, the Vande Bharat Express connecting Kashmir to the rest of the country reached Jammu Tawi Railway Station on a trial run from Katra to Srinagar.
The semi-high-speed Vande Bharat train will run between Katra and Srinagar on the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project.
The train will run between Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra (SVDK) and Srinagar.
This will also be the third such train for Jammu and Kashmir, as the other two Vande Bharat trains connect Katra and New Delhi.
The Katra to Srinagar Vande Bharat Express will have features like heating systems, anti-spall layers, and automatic doors.
The train is designed to operate smoothly in cold weather, down to minus 20 degrees Celsius.
It will have a driver’s windshield with heating elements to prevent fogging and freezing, self-regulating heating cables to ensure water flows smoothly, heaters in the lavatories and vacuum systems to keep passengers comfortable, optimal braking performance in sub-zero temperatures, protection for the driver from impacts during extreme weather or unforeseen events, automatic plug doors, fully air-conditioned coaches, mobile charging sockets, reading lights, and CCTV cameras, wider windows with roller blinds, and overhead racks for luggage.
The Katra-Srinagar Vande Bharat will run on the world’s highest railway arch bridge and Anji Bridge constructed on the Chenab River in the Reasi district.
