The Indian Railways (IR) is considered to be the world’s largest railway network. It has built its network across plains, hills, mountains, underwater etc. The railway network in Jammu and Kashmir is the highest altitude network in the country.
Recently, the Ministry of Railways has tweeted a video in which it shows how a passenger train is traversing through the snow covered Baramulla-Banihal stretch of Jammu and Kashmir.
Also Read: Indian Railways set to become world’s largest ‘Green Railways’ by 2030
Currently, the valley is witnessing severe cold wave conditions with snowfall. A temperature of -3.2 degrees Celsius has been recorded at Srinagar while Banihal recorded 4.6 degrees celsius.
In a 28 second video posted on micro-blogging site, the Ministry of Railways said, “A captivating sight of the train traversing through the snow-covered Baramulla-Banihal stretch of Jammu & Kashmir.“
List of stations
A total of 16 stations lie between Baramulla and Banihal.
- Baramulla
- Sopore
- Hamre
- Pattan
- Mazhom
- Nadigam Halt
- Budgam
- Srinagar
- Pampora
- Kakapora
- Awantipura
- Panjgam
- Bijbiara
- Anantnag
- Sadura
- Quazigund
- Hillar Shahabad Halt
The Baramulla-Banihal stretch falls under the Jammu-Baramulla Railway link project. It connects the Kashmir valley with Jammu railway station and rest parts of the country. World’s highest railway bridge and India’s first cable-stayed railway bridge is being built on this route.
Also Read: Indian Railways launches ‘Amrit Bharat’ scheme for development of stations
Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is establishing rail connectivity to the valley for which several railway projects have been initiated which are now under execution in different stages. The execution of the projects in the region is also a challenging task for the Indian Railways because of its topography and other geographical factors.
Meanwhile, the nation’s longest Escape tunnel T-49 between Sumber and KJhari stations on the Katra-Banihal section was executed last month. The length of the tunnel is 12.895km. The Escape Tunnel passes through the Ramban formation of the Young Himalayas and besides this, various distributaries of Chenab River like Khoda, Hingni, Kundan nallah etc.