"We are expecting to complete Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla railway line (272-km) by December 2022. Work is going on in full swing at the 111-km section. Out of this 111-km section, 97-km-long line will be laid in a tunnel," said Northern Railways General Manager Ashutosh Gangal

Jammu: The Northern Railway will be completing the most difficult 111-kilometer long section of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link by December 2022 that would connect Kashmir to the rest of the country through the railway network, reported Press Trust of India.

Northern Railway General Manager Ashutosh Gangal told the reporters that “the work is going on in full swing. The prestigious project will be completed by the end of 2022.” As per the report, the 272-kilometer railway line is being undertaken at an estimated cost of Rs 28,000 crore by the Northern Railway.

He said that the first section connecting Udhampur to Katra and the third section between Banihal and Baramulla have been completed with both sections operational. The work to complete the most difficult Katra-Banihal section is going as per schedule, he added.

Gangal told the agency that the railways were working to ensure that the project gets completed as per the scheduled time. He further said that the Udhampur-Katra (25 km) section, Banihal-Qazigund (18 km) section and Qazigund-Baramulla (118 km) section have already been commissioned.

The last remaining section, the 111 km Katra-Banihal section is currently under execution, he said adding that 126 km out of 174 km of tunnels on this section has already been completed.