The railway ministry told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that out of a total of 272 km, around 60 percent (161 km) of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link project has already been commissioned. Work on the remaining stretch (111 km) of the Katra-Banihal section has been taken up, the ministry added.
“The project was sanctioned in 1994-95. Anticipated cost of the project is Rs 37,012 crore, against which an expenditure of Rs 26,786 crore has been incurred up to March 2022,” the ministry said in a statement.
Responding to a query from National Conference MP Hasnain Masoodi from Jammu and Kashmir, on the estimated timeline for the completion of the USBRL (Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link) project, the ministry said completion of any such project depended on various factors: quick land acquisition by state government, forest clearance by officials of forest department, deposition of cost by state government in cost-sharing projects, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of area, law and order situation in the project(s) site, and number of working months in a year due to climatic conditions.
“All these factors affect the completion time of the project(s),” the ministry added.
The Lok Sabha was also informed that at present, 19 passenger special train services were running in Baramulla-Budgam-Banihal section of the USBRL project.
“Moreover, introduction of new train services or extension of existing train services is an ongoing process subject to traffic demand, operational feasibility and availability of rolling stock,” the ministry said.
According to the ministry, with the completion of the project, Kashmir will be linked to the rest of India via rail. Last week, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the Katra-Banihal line will be dedicated to the nation by January 2024.
This rail section is the only non-functional one in the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project. The section has 35 tunnels and 37 bridges. It also features the Anji Khad bridge, the first and only cable-stayed rail bridge in the country.
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