The Jammu-Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Link project aims to connect the Kashmir valley to the Indian railway network via a 345km route. It is divided into four sections, with the most challenging being the 129km Katra-Qazigund section that requires extensive tunneling and bridge construction, including a 359m tall Chenab bridge and 11km Pir Panjal tunnel. The project faces geological and security challenges but aims to improve transportation and economic development in the region.

1. Jammu-Udhampur-Srinagar-
Baramulla Railway Link
World’s Highest Railway bridge in
India(Kashmir)

2. Introduction
 Jammu and Kashmir has limited surface accessibility to the rest of
the country.
 Providing a reliable transport system crossing major earthquake
zones which is subjected to extreme temperatures making it the
most difficult railway project taken in India.
 Already existing road link is 350 km long – NH 1 A.
 Rail link : 345 km in length running from Jammu to Baramulla.
 Declared as a Project of national importance in 2002.
 Facing many problems in completion and the project estimated cost
is escalated to many folds.
 scheduled date of completion was 15 August 2007 but now
deadline pushed to 2017.

8. Trail run from Qazigund to Banihal :
Train emerges from India’s longest railway tunnel in the Pir Panjal
range during its trial run on 28th Dec 2012.

9. Railway link in Kashmir valley :

10. Objectives
 Reducing the travel time
to various destinations in
the valley considerably.
 All weather transportation
system that could
function in adverse
weather conditions.
 Socio-economic
development of the state.

11.  Employment generation.
 Construction of access
roads which would
connect many villages and
of course.
 Increase the number of
tourists visiting the
Paradise.

12. Project Breakdown
The project is divided into four sections:
 Leg 0 – It extends 53 km from Jammu to Udhampur which was
completed in April 2005.
 Leg 1 – It extends 25 km from Udhampur to Katra which is under
construction.
 Leg 2 – extending 129 km from Katra to Qazigund which is under
construction and may open in 2017. Execution was started in 2003.
 Leg 3 – extending 119 km from Qazigund to Baramulla which was
completed in October 2009.

13. Item Udhampur -Katra Katra- Qazigund Qazigund -Baramulla
Route length( km) 25 129 119
Bridges 38 62 811
Tunnels Length( km) 10.90 103.00 0
Max height of bridge (m) 85 359 22
Longest tunnel( km) 3.15 10.96 -
stations 3 12 15

14. Geological Features
 Heterogeneous soil near portals to trap and Quartzite in the middle.
 Fault zones encountered.
 Limestone region encountered where heavy water inflow can occur.
 The general trend of mountain range and strike direction of bedding
is NW-SE.
 Folding is there in central areas.
 The types of rocks are mainly limestone, andesite, basalt, quartzite
and sandstone.

15. Design of tunnels
 Normal tunnels adopted by railways – D shape for single broad
gauge line.
 Improvised design – Elliptical shape (300 % more efficient than D
type).
 For tunnels of length > 3 km – Horse shoe section with 3 m wide
jeepable pathway for rescue operations.
 LINES : Some of the yards have either ends in tunnels for which
two line or three line sections will be designed.

16. Project management
The project is being implemented by three principal agencies:
 Northern Railway Construction Organisation (NRCO)
 Konkan Railway Construction Limited (KRCL)
 IRCON International Limited
The railway Board is responsible for technical
guidance and co-ordination of overall progress.

17.  The project is funded by the Govt. of India and the Ministry of Finance is
responsible for providing finances.
 KRCL is in the charge of the Katra-Laole section which is the toughest portion of the
line with most of the line comprising of either tunnels or bridges.
 HCC constructed the Banihal Tunnel, 11.215 km long, across the Pir Panjal range.
 AFCONS with Ultra Engineering will design and construct the Chenab Bridge for
US$130 million.
 Gammon India with Archirodon Construction will build the Anji Khad Bridge for
US$100 million.

19. Most Challenging part of the Project
 Chenab Bridge.
 Pir Panjal Tunnel.
 Anjikhad Bridge.
All of the three lies in Katra – Qazigund section which consists of :
 Length = 142 km.
 Major bridges = 62. ; Minor bridges = 132.
 Tunnels = 84.
 Track in tunnels = 63 %. ; Track on bridges = 11.45 % .
 No. of Station = 12.

20. Chenab Bridge
 Mega bridge over Chenab river has been planned near
Salal village.
 The rail height from the river bed will be 359 m which
will make it the tallest rail bridge in the world.
 The main arch will have a span of 465 m which gives
another distinction to this bridge being the longest
single span railway arch bridge in the world.
 A very elaborate procedure has been followed as there
is no Indian Code for designing mega structures.
 Since the area is prone to terrorist attacks, the blast
load has been taken into consideration for design.

23. Chenab bridge proposed design

25. Pir Panjal Tunnel (T-80)
 It is 11 km long aligned in almost N-S direction.
 The method for tunnelling used is NATM (New Austrian
Tunneling Method).
 The tunnel is the longest in India and the third longest in
Asia.
 It is lower than the existing road tunnel and will be much less
vulnerable to snow.
Problems in using TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine)
 Portal areas are situated in fluvio-glacial sediments, i.e. soft
ground.
 No bidder was prepared to mobilize two TBMs.
 Fault zones hindered the use of TBM.
 In the limestone region, high squeezing would lead to heavy

28. Socio-economic Impact of the Project
 Reliable connectivity to far flung areas of Jammu and
Kashmir by rail.
 Construction of Access Roads: With the construction of
approach roads, many villages will get connected and
would help in development of those areas.
 Employment: The project would generate employment
for local people as well as for others.
 Permanent job in Railways to one of the family
members whose more than 75% land has been
acquired.

35. Conclusion
 USBRL project was proposed to provide an adequate
transport system which will be efficient in all the weather
and to quash the travel time to cover the distance
between Kashmir valley and rest of the country.
 Most difficult projects , sensitive region with very weak
support for logistics,
 National importance and related difficulties associated
with project, proper planning before execution is a must
condition.

38. References
 Northern Railway Construction Organization
(USBRL Project)
 www.usbrl.org
 Wikipedia :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir_Valley