Safety inspection of Banihal-Sangaldan rail link completed ahead of PM's J&K visit on Feb 20

Jammu, Feb 17 (IANS) Mandatory safety inspection of 48-km long Banihal-Sangaldan railway section in J&K’s Ramban district was successfully completed on Friday, ahead of the inauguration of Baramulla-Sangaldan railway train service by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 20.

Commissioner of Railways Safety (CRS), D.C. Deshwal did his two-day inspection of recently completed 48 km-long Banihal-Sangaldan section along the ambitious Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) on Friday.

Sangaldan railway station in Ramban district falls between Banihal and Katra on the remaining 111 km stretch of the USBRL project, which, upon completion, will connect Kashmir valley with the rest of the country.

CRS along with his team conducted the final inspection of the railway track, tunnels and other systems between Khari-Sumbar and Sangaldan section.

A speed trial of the electric train was successfully conducted between Sangaldan and Khari railway stations during the inspection. The commissioner returned to Srinagar in a rail car from Khari last evening.

In Srinagar, Deshwal is scheduled to hold a meeting with Northern railway authorities before submitting a final report.

Out of the total 272-km USBRL project, 161 km stretch was commissioned in phases while first phase of 118-km Qazigund-Baramulla section was commissioned in October 2009, followed by 18 km Banihal-Qazigund section in June 2013, and 25 km Udhampur-Katra section in July 2014.

Work on the challenging Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link had started in 1997 and this service is likely to become functional by March-April this year.