SRINAGAR: Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), Northern Circle, Dinesh Chand Deshwal on Friday completed a safety inspection of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra-Srinagar section of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL), with officials reviewing key infrastructure and operational arrangements along the strategically important corridor.
Officials said Deshwal inspected the rail section in view of the challenging terrain and weather conditions of the region and expressed satisfaction with the quality of construction and safety standards maintained on the project.
The inspection covered railway tracks, tunnels, bridges, stations and other safety-related infrastructure. The CRS also reviewed operational safety measures, passenger amenities, signalling systems and emergency response arrangements, officials said.
Jammu Divisional Railway Manager Vivek Kumar and other senior railway and project officials accompanied the CRS during the inspection.
Kumar said the railway administration would implement the suggestions made during the inspection and rectify any shortcomings within the stipulated timeframe to facilitate the commencement of passenger services.
The 272-kilometre USBRL has connected the Kashmir Valley with the national railway network and was constructed at a cost of Rs 43,780 crore. The project is intended to provide an all-weather rail corridor between the region and the rest of the country.
The rail link is expected to reduce the traditional road journey between Jammu and Srinagar, which takes around seven hours, to about three to four hours by rail.
