Chenab Rail Bridge, ambitious rail project connecting Kashmir to rest of India inaugurated

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated one of the most ambitious railway projects ever built in India, which will connect the Kashmir Valley to the vast Indian plains by train for the first time.

Dubbed by government-operated Indian Railways as one of the most challenging tracks in the world, the 272-kilometre line begins in the garrison city of Udhampur in Jammu region and runs through Indian-administered Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar. The line ends in Baramulla, a town near the Line of Control dividing the Himalayan region between India and Pakistan.

The line travels through 36 tunnels and over 943 bridges. The Indian government pegged the total project cost at around $5 billion.

Modi travelled to Kashmir on Friday for the first time since a military conflict between India and Pakistan brought the countries to the brink of war over the region last month.

Modi also inaugurated the world’s tallest railway bridge connecting the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country. Modi interacted with the engineers and the skilled workers who braved all odds of weather and topography to complete the Chenab bridge at 359 metres, 35 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower of Paris.

Along with the bridge, Modi inaugurated infrastructure projects in the city of Katra in Jammu and Kashmir.

“In addition to being an extraordinary feat of architecture, the Chenab Rail Bridge will improve connectivity between Jammu and Srinagar,” Modi posted on social media platform X Thursday.

The railway project is considered crucial to boosting tourism and bringing development to a region that has been marred by militancy and protests over the years. The line is expected to ease the movement of Indian troops and the public to the region, which is currently connected by flights and mountain roads that are prone to landslides.