Years of hard work and dedication, and some engineering marvels later, the dream of Kashmir to be connected by rail finally came to fruition after a specially-designed Vande Bharat Express train arrived in the city on Saturday, completing its trial run.The train, on its maiden trial run, arrived at Srinagar station in the Nowgam area on the city's outskirts from Katra in Jammu.It reached Jammu on Friday.Slogans and praises for the Indian Railways greeted the orange-and-grey-coloured Vande Bharat train as it reached the station at 11:30 am.A large number of people and rail officials waited since morning, many of them carrying garlands, to welcome those aboard the train.After a brief halt at the station, the train moved to Budgam station to complete its trial run.Northern Railway's Chief Area Manager (Srinagar) Saqib Yousuf said the trial run's completion marked a historic moment."This is a historic step. It reflects the vision of our prime minister to connect Kashmir with the rest of the country," he said.Yousuf said the trial was also to ascertain the time the train would take on various sections.The successful completion of the trial run is a result of the fast-paced hard work over the past 10 years that was put in to complete the line, he added.Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to flag off the train from Katra, as the commissioner of railway safety has given the green signal for running the service on the Katra-Baramulla section.The date for the flag-off ceremony is yet to be announced.The Railways completed 272 kilometres of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project last month.Special climate-related featuresAccording to rail officials, the Railway Board, on June 8 last year, unveiled a Vande Bharat Express train specially designed to operate in Jammu and Kashmir's challenging winter conditions for the Katra-Srinagar route. The train incorporates special climate-related features.Compared to the other 136 Vande Bharat trains running in different parts of the country, this train has several additional features to meet operational challenges and passengers' needs in Jammu and Kashmir's extreme weather conditions.
