Led by a Commissioner of Railways Safety, a highly spirited team of Indian Railways Wednesday 'crossed the last mile' atop the world’s highest 'Chenab railway bridge' and the Anji Khad cable-stayed rail bridge during a high-speed train trial on the Katra-Banihal section at a speed of 110 km/h.
The Indian Railways conducted the statutory high-speed trial run along the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project before launching the much-awaited train services connecting Kashmir Valley with the rest of the country.
The Government of India is expected to take a final call on the launch of the services on receipt of the final inspection report of the Commissioner of Railways Safety.
Interacting with the media after completing the first leg of the high-speed trial run at Banihal railway station, Commissioner of Railways Safety Dinesh Chand Deshwal said the inspection and the trial run on the trek had been satisfactory so far. “The trial run at 110 kilometers per hour on the 180-degree rising grade in such a challenging geography from Katra to Banihal has written a new chapter in the history of the Railways. The trial run was smooth and filled us with a sense of fulfillment and the credit for it goes to our engineers who have done such great work.”
Deshwal said his team would return to Katra and all the collected data would be analyzed before a decision was taken on the start of direct train services to Kashmir.
