NEW DELHI (Metro Rail News): Railway Minister Shri Piyush Goyal on Tuesday reviewed the progress on the ongoing Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail link Project (USBRL) and appreciated the work done in the month of April and May despite facing challenging situations due to Covid-19.
He also instructed the officials to put in extra efforts in the coming months to make up for the loss of time due to Covid-19 second wave.
According to Ministry of Railways, the Railway Minister was apprised that the budget of USBRL for year 2021-22 is Rs. 4200 Cr. He instructed that there would not be any constraints of budget to this project.
Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail link Project (USBRL) is a 272 Km long railway line from Udhampur to Baramulla joining the Kashmir valley with rest of the country and has been declared as National Project in 2002. Out of 272 Km of USBRL Project, work has been completed on 161 Km and commissioned. Status of work sub-divided into three legs is as under –
- Udhampur – Katra -25km (commissioned in July 2014)
- Quazigund – Baramulla – 118km (commissioned in October 2009)
- Banihal – Quazigund – 18km (commissioned in June 2013)
- Katra to Banihal- 111km in progress (Target 2022-23)
Katra- Banihal Section of USBRL Project –
The work on an intervening stretch of Katra-Banihal section (111 km) is in progress and this section predominantly involves tunnelling i.e. 97 Km out of 111 Km (i.e. 87%) of length of Katra-Banihal section is in tunnels and maximum length of tunnel T-49 is 12.75 Km.
There are 27 numbers of Main tunnel having length of 97.6 Km and 8 numbers of Escape tunnel having length of 66.4 km, with cumulative length of about 164 Km of tunneling are being constructed in Katra- Banihal section.
As per Ministry of Railways, at present 140.81 Km of tunnelling i.e. 84.2 Km (20 nos.) out of 97.6 Km (27nos.) of Main tunnel and 56.61 Km (3 numbers) out of 66.4 Km (8 numbers) have been completed.
There are 37 numbers of Bridges (combined length of 7 Km) and includes 26 numbers of major bridges and 11 numbers of minor bridges. At present 13 numbers of major bridges and 10 numbers of minor bridges have been completed and work on all fronts are in progress.
These bridges include the iconic Chenab Bridge (Overall length 1315 m, Arch span of 467 m and height of 359 m above river bed) which will be the highest railway bridge in the world. Arch Launching of Chenab Bridge was completed on 05.04.2021.
Indian railway’s first cable-stayed bridge is also being constructed on Anji Khad and 130 m of Main Pylon out of 193 m have been cast and an ancillary viaduct portion of Anji Bridge has been completed.
Launching of other Major bridges 39 & 43 is in progress and 310 m and 260 m of launching have been completed respectively.
Electrification of Banihal- Baramulla section –
The 136 km railway line from Banihal to Baramulla has already been commissioned and its electrification work has also been sanctioned.
All tenders have been awarded and S&T plans have also been approved and work is under progress. The target for completion of Railway Electrification works in Banihal-Baramulla section is March 2022.
Completion date of the project is April 2023.
