Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link: Ashwini Vaishnaw, the union minister, declared on Friday that the work on the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project (USBRL) tracks had been completed. "It's a historic milestone," Vaishnaw wrote in a post on the social media site X. He added that 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 completed today at 02:00 hrs.

The ministry made a suggestion last month that the Vande Bharat train, which will run on the new line between Kashmir and New Delhi, would probably open in January 2025.

The 48.1-kilometre Banihal-Khari-Sumber-Sangaldan stretch, which includes India's longest tunnel between the Khari-Sumber section, was opened by the ministry in February 2024.

This made it possible for trains to travel from Baramulla to Sangaldan via Banihal, which was previously the final or starting station.

Work has already begun on 200 kilometres of the 272-km project. The rest of the part had been under construction.

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According to the ministry, the USBRL project may be the most challenging new railway line project implemented in the nation since independence. It isaid, the landscape crosses the young Himalayas, which are rife with geological surprises and a host of issues.

"This section predominantly involves tunneling—97.42 km out of 111 Km (87%) of the length of the Katra-Banihal section is in tunnels and the maximum length of tunnel T-49 is 12.77 km, which will be the longest transportation railway tunnel in the country," the ministry said in a statement.

Additionally, the railway constructed the highest railway bridge in the world across the Chenab River in the Reasi District of Jammu & Kashmir.

Reaching a height of 359 metres above the riverbed, the famous Chenab Bridge is 1,315 metres long with an arch span of 467 metres. The first cable-stayed bridge built by Indian Railways spans Anji Khad.