Modi to flag off Vande Bharat train to Srinagar on June 6; PM's first J&K visit post Pahalgam terror attack

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to flag off two specially designed Vande Bharat trains connecting Srinagar with Katra in Jammu on Friday, 6 June. The inauguration marks the much-awaited completing of project to link Kashmir with rest of the country through rail link that was initiated 42 years ago.

This will be Prime Minister Modi’s first visit to Jammu and Kashmir after ‘Operation Sindoor’ – India's precision strikes on terror camps in Pakistan launched on 7 May in response to the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people, mostly tourists.

“The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, will visit Jammu in the first week of June and will inaugurate the first Vande Bharat train to Kashmir,” senior BJP leader Ravinder Raina was quoted as saying by local daily Rising Kashmir. Raina, former J&K BJP President is also BJP National Executive Member.

Earlier, the inauguration of the much-awaited train was scheduled for 19 April, however, it was postponed dur to bad weather. Three days later Pahalgam terror attack happened in Kashmir.

Modi was scheduled to inaugurate the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla-Rail Project (USBRL), the World’s tallest Chenab Rail Bridge and Anji Khad Rail Bridge on 19 April, besides flagging off the special Kashmir edition of Vande Bharat Express from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Railway Station to Srinagar.

Raina told the Rising Kashmir news paer that the exact dates of PM Modi’s visit are being finalised in coordination with security agencies. “It is most likely that PM Modi will visit Jammu on June 6, 7, or 8,” he said.

Modi's scheduled visit to the Union Territory comes shortly after Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s two-day tour last week. During the visit, Shah reviewed security arrangements and also visited Poonch where he met victims of cross-border shelling.

Special Vande Bharat Express Train

The Katra to SrinagarVande Bharat Expresswill have features like heating systems, anti-spall layers, and automatic doors. The train is designed to operate smoothly in cold weather--down to minus 20 degrees Celsius.

The Indian Railways had conducted a trial run of the Vande Bharat train from Katra to Srinagar on January 23 this year.

The Katra-Srinagar Vande Bharat will run on the world’s highest railway arch bridge and Anji Bridge constructed on the river Chenab in Reasi district.

The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla-Rail Project spans 272 km and includes 119 km of tunnels. Two iconic engineering marvels—the Chenab Bridge, the world’s highest railway bridge, and the Anji Khad Bridge, India’s first cable-stayed railway bridge—are part of this project.

The Chenab Bridge is 467 metres high, making it 35 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Designed to withstand earthquakes up to magnitude 8, the bridge posed significant engineering challenges due to its location in a high-seismic zone.

Approved in 1994–95 and declared a National Project in 2002, the USBRL has been completed in phases. Key sections such as Qazigund–Baramulla (2009), Banihal–Qazigund (2013), Udhampur–Katra (2014), and Banihal–Sangaldan (2020) have already been commissioned. A trial run of MEMU trains was also successfully conducted last year on the electrified Reasi–Sangaldan section.

Currently, train services in the Kashmir Valley are operational only on the Sangaldan–Baramulla section, while long-distance trains terminate at Katra, Jammu.