SRINAGAR: With a historic flag-off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Railway Station in Katra, high-speed Vande Bharat Express trains will formally begin operations between Katra and Srinagar, marking the completion of the long-awaited Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project. This milestone links the Kashmir Valley to the rest of India by rail for the first time in history, and cuts travel time between Katra and Srinagar to just three hours.
The service will commence for public operations from June 7, offering travellers a swift, climate-resilient rail journey across the Himalayas. Two pairs of Vande Bharat Express trains — Train Nos. 26401/26402 and 26403/26404 — will run six days a week between the pilgrimage town of Katra and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, Srinagar, with a key halt at Banihal.
As per the schedule, Train No. 26401 will depart Katra at 8:10 AM and reach Srinagar at 11:08 AM, stopping at Banihal at 9:58 AM. Its return service, Train No. 26402, will depart Srinagar at 2:00 PM, halt at Banihal at 3:10 PM, and arrive at Katra at 4:48 PM. This train will not operate on Tuesdays.
The second set, Train No. 26404, will depart Srinagar at 8:00 AM, stop at Banihal at 9:02 AM, and reach Katra at 10:58 AM. The return train, No. 26403, will leave Katra at 2:55 PM, halt at Banihal at 4:40 PM, and reach Srinagar at 5:53 PM. This train will not run on Wednesdays.
The 272-km railway link — long considered an engineering marvel — includes the world’s highest railway arch bridge over the Chenab River. The high-altitude route, formerly divided between Banihal-Baramulla in the Valley and Jammu-Katra-Udhampur in the Jammu region, has now been unified, allowing year-round, seamless access for passengers and pilgrims alike.
The Vande Bharat trains deployed in Kashmir are specially adapted to handle the sub-zero temperatures of the region. Equipped with heated windscreens, insulated lavatories, advanced heating systems, and embedded defrosting elements in the driver’s windows, the trains are designed to operate efficiently even at minus 20 degrees Celsius.
With this development, Kashmir now joins the national rail network with fast, reliable, and all-weather access — a transformation that will serve both local commuters and millions of religious pilgrims travelling to the Vaishno Devi shrine each year. Once the platform work at Jammu Tawi station is complete, the route will be further extended to offer uninterrupted high-speed service from Srinagar to Jammu and beyond.
