With the successful load tests with freight trains and trucks on Indias first cable stayed Anji Khad railway bridge, all eyes are set on the visit of the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) to conduct a final inspection of the 17-km long Katra-Reasi section ahead of connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of the country. The bridge is a part of the 326-km rail line connecting Udhampur to Baramulla via Srinagar. More than two decades in the making, the delayed construction of the Anji Khad bridge in Jammu’s Reasi district is a major rail link to seamlessly connect Kashmir to rest of India.

The final nod to launch the train services will be given by the Commissioner of Railway Safety after the inspection. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to inaugurate the first Vande Bharat train from Delhi to Srinagar. The much-awaited inspection visit will likely be scheduled in the second week of January 2025.

With the launch of the Vande Bharat train services the accessibility to the beautiful Kashmir Valley will improve further.

The Vande Bharat Sleeper train will cover a distance of over 800 kilometers, in under 13 hours.

Last week, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also posted videos of the load tests with freight trains and trucks on the Anji Khad cable-stayed bridge on X (earlier Twitter).

According to official sources, a freight train loaded with 3,300 tons of weight was brought to the cable bridge from the Reasi railway station while later 57 dumpers (trucks) were placed on an additional route built along the railway track with each dumper loaded with 9 tons of boulders, totaling 513 tons.

The freight train and dumpers were on the cable bridge for nearly two hours with a combined weight of over 33,500  tons. After two hours, all the dumpers were removed completing the necessary safety protocol.

The most challenging task between the 17 km long Katra Reasi section was the completion of T-33 tunnel. The last leg of the 17 km long section of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link was completed on December 13.

“Historic milestone; final track work on the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link is complete. The ballastless track work for the 3.2 km-long Tunnel T-33, located at the foothills of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine and connecting Katra to Reasi, was completed”, Railways Minister said in a statement.

Considered an engineering marvel, next to the world’s highest rail bridge over the Chenab River in Reasi’s Kouri village, the cable-stayed rail bridge has 96 cables. The total length of cable strands is 653 km weighing 848.7 MT.

The bridge connects the T2 tunnel on the Katra side and the T3 tunnel on the Reasi side and has a single-line railway track and a 3.75 metres wide service road. The bridge is 725 metres long, including a 473 metres long asymmetric cable-stayed bridge balanced on the axis of a central pylon of height 193 metres from the top of the foundation.