Vinay Kumar Tripathi, Chairman and CEO, Railway Board, during his two days visit inspected the ongoing work on Katra-Banihal (111 km) section of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project that would link Kashmir Valley with the rest of the country by rail.

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Deepak Kumar, Chief Public Relations Officer, Northern Railway, said on Sunday that the chairman expressed satisfaction regarding the pace and progress of work and directed project authorities to further accelerate the work, especially T-14 and BLT work. He also emphasized that E&M and S&T work should be taken up simultaneously to ensure timely completion of the project.

According to Kumar, Tripathi also inspected the Chenab Bridge, which is the highest railway bridge in the world. The golden joint of the deck for this bridge was successfully completed on 13 August. All tunnel, bridge and track linking works from the Chenab bridge onwards till Tunnel T-14 were inspected.

The major bridge No. 39 was also inspected, a continuous composite girder of 490 m length, and is in the final stage of completion. The tallest Pier P5 of this bridge is 105 m from foundation level and Reasi yard is extending over this bridge and will hold two lines and also

two platforms.

It was informed by project executives that the remaining works shall be completed by November. Reasi station building work was also inspected. Its ground floor slab has been cast and shuttering work for the column of the first floor was in progress. It was informed that GRP and RPF barracks are being constructed below the circulating area.

The Chairman-CEO of Railway Board, who directed the Northern Railway and the Konkan Railway Corporation Limited to closely monitor the progress, also inspected Anji bridge (Katra end), which is Indian Railway’s first cable-stayed bridge having the total length of 725m.

Anji bridge has a single main pylon of height 193 m from the foundation top and 331 m above the river bed. At Katra end of the bridge, the construction of MA1 abutment substructure was in progress. Tripathi also inspected the work of other tunnels and bridges that are unique in their architecture and design.