JAMMU, Mar 26:The Union Railway Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, on Sunday visited the world’s highest Railway Bridge over Chenab River in Reasi area of Jammu, where the minister conducted the first trial run on a track-mounted vehicle on the world’s highest railway bridge over the river Chenab.
Terming the cable mounted world’s highest arch bridge, over Chenab River as an engineering marvel, the union minister said that a specially designed Vande Bharat Metro train will soon run between Jammu and Srinagar.
Speaking to media persons, the Union Railway minister AshwaniVaishnaw said, “The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) Project is expected to become fully operational by the end of this year or early next year.”
“After the completion of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) Project, the specially designed Vande Bharat Metro train will start running between Jammu and Srinagar,” the union minister said.
The Union Railway Minister said that the USBRL project is expected to be completed by December this year or January 2024.
Vaishnaw travelled on the track-mounted trolley with railway officials and inspected the bridge which has a height of 359 metres from the Chenab River.
Vaishnaw said it has been decided to set up a Vande Bharat Express train maintenance facility at Budgam in Kashmir Valley.
The Vande Bharat Metro will be run between Jammu and Srinagar cities after the completion of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL).
He said the bridge, which is an engineering marvel, has a foundation equivalent to half the football field.
“It (the bridge) is a matter of pride for the country,” he said, adding that more than 28,000 metric tonnes of steel was used for the bridge.
The bridge, he said, is built in a highly active seismic zone and is designed in such a way that it can withstand earthquakes upto 8 Richter Scale.
A BhoomiPoojan was also performed on the occasion by the union minister.
