'Kashmir soon to get connected to rest of country all the year round'

New Delhi: The Kashmir Valley is soon to get connected through the rail with the rest of the country. While reviewing the Jammu-Srinagar rail connectivity on Monday, new rail minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the region gets to remain connected to the rest of the country all year round.

"The aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir has to be fulfilled by completing the project so that the region gets a good transportation system to remain connected to the rest of the country all the year-round," he mentioned.

The minister reviewed the ongoing work on the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla-Rail-Link Project (USBRL). Reportedly, out of 272 km length from Udhampur to Baramulla, 161 km have been completed. It includes Qazigund to Baramulla section 118 km- commissioned in phases from 2008 to 2009, Qazigund to Banihal section 18 km- in June 2013 and Udhampur to Katra section 25 km was completed in July 2014. He also conducted a footplate inspection on Vande Bharat express from Katra to Jammu. He not only interacted with the loco pilot, but with the passengers. Further interacted with the pilgrims who had travelled from different parts of the country to visit the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine.

Vaishnaw also laid the foundation stone for enhanced infrastructure and passenger amenities at the Sri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra (SMVD) station. The cost of the project of connecting Srinagar with the rest of the country is Rs 27,949 crore and was approved in March 1995.

"The construction of the rail line in the young fold, seismically active Himalayan region has been a challenge. Three sections from Banihal-Baramulla have already been completed and made operational. The fourth and final leg of the project 111 Km between Katra-Banihal is the most challenging as 97 Km of the route is in tunnels. There are 07 stations proposed in the section. Due to the paucity of flat space, some of the stations are to be within tunnels or bridges. The route is to be completely electrified so as to curtail running costs and minimize environmental pollution," the rail ministry

officially stated.