Title - Udhampur-Katra rail line to open soon

Reasi: The much awaited Udhampur-Katra rail line will become operational from this year. This would enable pilgrims to Vaishno Devi shrine to reach Katra base camp directly.While the Katra railway station is almost ready, work on the Udhampur-Katra line is underway and is likely to be commissioned soon. Niwang Rigzin Jora, Minister for Urban Development and Urban Local Bodies, said this in his address on the eve of the Republic Day function held at the Sports Stadium, Reasi.The 53-km long Jammu-Udhampur rail line is already operational. Once the 25-km-long Udhampur-Katra line, which is part of the Kashmir rail link project, is operational trains can reach Katra directly from anywhere.Katra in Reasi is the base camp for pilgrims to the Vaishno Devi shrine where an estimated 10 million devotees come to pay obeisance every year.The Udhampur-Katra rail route, estimated to cost Rs 960 crore, passes through inhospitable terrain making it an extremely challenging engineering project.The 25-km-long route consists of seven tunnels and 30 small and big bridges, including a bridge taller than the Qutab Minar.The total length of the seven tunnels is 12 km on the Udhampur-Katra rail route. The construction is in the last leg.The project got delayed because of a problem in T1 and T3 tunnels.