Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has flagged off the first-ever direct train from Jammu to Srinagar in a landmark achievement after Independence on Thursday.
The two regions separated by the Pir Panjal mountain ranges were connected by train service on Thursday, a milestone achieved under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While successive governments had dreamt of and laid the foundation for the project, it was under Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the two regions were directly connected with each other after 79 years of Independence.
Inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi in June 2025, the service had remained limited for nearly eight months to the Katra-Srinagar corridor. The 272-km-long Srinagar-Udhampur-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL), completed at a cost of Rs 44,000 crore in 25 years, became fully operational on Thursday.
Officials said all trial runs and train services had been routinely plying on the designated route, but a fully operational direct train service had not started until today.
According to officials, regular services will commence from May 2. The first two trains (26401/26402) are expected to operate six days a week except Tuesdays, while the second pair (26403/26404) will run six days a week except Wednesdays.
Meanwhile, the train capacity and coaches have been upgraded from the current eight to 20 to accommodate the massive rush on the designated route.
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