Inside India’s Rs 43,780 Cr Engineering Marvel

by Syed ShadabAli Gillani

SRINAGAR: In a monumental feat of engineering and national integration, Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally inaugurated the 272-kilometre Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL), completing a decades-long effort to connect Kashmir with the national railway network through a corridor of tunnels, viaducts and world-record-setting bridges. It took 40 years to make.

Built at a staggering cost of Rs 43,780 crore, the USBRL project is now being celebrated as the most complex and ambitious railway development in the country since 1947. It carves its way through some of the toughest terrain in the Himalayas, employing 36 tunnels with a combined length of 119 kilometres and 943 bridges that knit together snowbound ridges, plunging gorges and earthquake-prone valleys. Over 90 per cent of the entire stretch from Udhampur to Baramulla runs through either bridges or tunnels, an engineering ratio unheard of in India’s railway history.

National Project

First declared a “national project” in 2002, the USBRL was originally conceived during the tenure of Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao in 1994, and work formally began in 2005-06. The project has since opened in phases: the 118-kilometre Qazigund-Baramulla section was commissioned in October 2009, followed by the 18-kilometre Banihal-Qazigund section in June 2013, and the 25-kilometre Udhampur-Katra segment in July 2014. The 48.1-kilometre Banihal-Sangaldan section opened in February 2023, and the 46-kilometre Sangaldan-Reasi stretch followed in June 2023.

The final 17-kilometre leg connecting Reasi to Katra was completed in December 2024, creating an unbroken rail corridor that links Baramulla in north Kashmir with the Indian plains.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking to a public gathering after inaugurating the Kashmir Rail at Katra on June 6, 2025

Behind these timelines lies an epic saga of manpower and materials. More than 26,000 people were deployed across the project’s various segments, including engineers, tunnel experts, bridge designers, labourers and logistics specialists. The effort consumed over 30,000 metric tonnes of structural steel, much of it specially treated to resist corrosion at high altitudes, and nearly 10 lakh cubic metres of reinforced concrete. Helicopters were used to transport equipment to inaccessible zones.

More than 215 kilometres of new roads had to be built just to access the remotest construction sites, often at altitudes where temperatures dropped below minus 20 degrees Celsius. Construction work took place in seismic zones IV and V, with workers battling landslides, snowstorms and geological faults while pushing through sheer rock and unstable slopes.

Chenab Bridge: Highest in the World

The engineering crown jewel of this rail line is the world’s highest railway bridge across the Chenab River in the Reasi district. Towering 359 metres above the riverbed,  35 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower, the Chenab Bridge stretches 1.315 kilometres in length, with a central arch span of 467 metres, the longest among railway bridges anywhere on the globe.

Built over 20 years and inaugurated in 2024, it cost Rs 1,456 crore and used over 30,000 tonnes of steel. Designed to withstand winds up to 266 kilometres per hour and earthquakes measuring up to magnitude 8, it also incorporates blast-resistant features developed in collaboration with the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

The bridge is expected to last 120 years and can accommodate trains running at 100 kilometres per hour. Even in the hypothetical scenario of one of its piers collapsing, it is designed to remain functional at 30 kilometres per hour. It features advanced seismic bearings, wind-speed sensors, and real-time structural monitoring systems developed with institutions like IIT Delhi, IIT Roorkee and IISc Bangalore.

India’s First Cable-Stayed Rail Bridge

Alongside it stands the Anji Khad Bridge, India’s first cable-stayed railway bridge. Suspended 331 metres above a gorge and extending 725 metres in length, this structure is held in place by 96 high-tensile cables, whose total length is a staggering 653 kilometres.

The inverted-Y-shaped pylon that anchors the bridge rises to 193 metres and required 8,200 tonnes of steel. The Anji Khad project took nearly eight years to complete, with progress often slowed by dangerously high winds and complex geological conditions.

Tunnels That Tell of Battle with Earth

Equally remarkable are the tunnels that form the backbone of the route, particularly T-50, India’s longest railway tunnel, which runs for 12.77 kilometres between Sumber and Khari. Built at a cost of over Rs 1,000 crore using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method, T-50 includes a parallel escape tunnel, cross-passages every 375 metres, and surveillance cameras every 50 metres. Its construction involved navigating quartzite, gneiss, phyllite and shear zones with high water ingress.

Other major tunnels include T-80, which spans 11.2 kilometres beneath the Pir Panjal range between Banihal and Qazigund; T-34, a twin tunnel of 5.099 kilometres that connects to the Anji Khad bridge; T-33 on the Katra-Banihal line, measuring 5.2 kilometres and built in a thrust zone using I-system tunnelling; and T-23 near Udhampur, measuring 3.15 kilometres, which had to be redesigned after a structural bulge was discovered in 2008.

Tunnel T-1 near Reasi, at 3.209 kilometres, required umbrella piping and chemical grouting to secure its path. Another, T-25, took six years to complete due to underground water flow estimated at 2,000 litres per second.

A Three-Hour Travel

With the commissioning of the entire USBRL, the strategic, economic and social implications are immense. Travel time between Katra and Srinagar will be reduced by nearly three hours. The corridor is expected to facilitate 24-hour cargo and essential goods delivery from Delhi to the Kashmir Valley, ensuring uninterrupted medical and supply services during winters.

It opens the door for Vande Bharat and semi-high-speed trains to operate on a route that was previously unimaginable for even conventional rail services. It will also provide critical support for the armed forces and disaster response agencies by ensuring all-weather access to a sensitive region.

Construction Majors

Technology and international expertise came together in this project. The executing agency was Konkan Railway Corporation. Afcons Infrastructure of India led the bridge-building consortium along with Ultra Construction & Engineering of South Korea and VSL India. Design consultants included WSP Finland, Leonhardt Andra & Partners of Germany, and Indian institutions like IIT Delhi and IISc Bangalore.

Special structural steel was provided by the Steel Authority of India. Bearings and vibration-damping technologies were supplied by the Swiss company Mageba. Construction methods included the use of NATM, umbrella grouting, I-tunnelling systems, cable-crane technology and 3D Tekla modelling.

Long History

The foundation for Kashmir’s railway dream was laid by Indira Gandhi in 1983 when she inaugurated the Jammu-Udhampur section. More than four decades later, with over Rs 43,780 crore invested, 30,000 metric tonnes of steel lifted across the mountains, 18,000 cables slung across valleys, and 26,000 people having braved earthquakes, snow and floods, India’s engineers have delivered not just a train to Kashmir, but a lasting symbol of national will, technological prowess and the determination to connect even the most remote corner of the country to its core. As the first passenger train cuts across the Himalayan wind atop the Chenab arch and burrows into tunnels built through bedrock and glaciers, it will carry not just passengers but the weight of a long-held dream — one finally realised.

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