Train to Kashmir: How India realised its big dream - from project's darkest moments to historic milestone

Photo posted by Omar Abdullah

The idea seemed ludicrous in 1997 when then-Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda laid the foundation stone for what would become India's most challenging railway project - connecting Kashmir to the national rail network.

As recounted by TOI, Northern Railway's engineers initially stared at their assignment in disbelief: carve a route through the Pir Panjal mountains while navigating active militancy, with no proper housing, erratic electricity and death lurking around every bend.

Today, that "impossible dream" becomes reality as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL), completing a 27-year odyssey of courage and engineering brilliance.

For families like the Sapras who lived through the project's dangerous early years, the inauguration brings bittersweet memories. “The USBRL shaped us as much as we shaped it,” Neetu Sapra was quoted by TOI, recalling how she narrowly escaped a 1998 bomb blast at Srinagar's Lal Chowk while her husband Suresh, then an executive engineer, worked in life-threatening conditions. During those days, even basic amenities were a struggle and they cooked noodles by candlelight, Suresh recounted.

The project's first survey team arrived in Srinagar in 1997 to find railway quarters occupied by CRPF troops, forcing them into makeshift offices with bucket-flushed toilets. Sandeep Gupta, the project's chief engineer, wrote in 2009 TOI coffee table book, Linking Paradise: A Northern Railway Project how they worked under armed guard, with road-opening parties checking for mines before each survey. One harrowing trip saw engineers miss a landslide by mere meters on the Jammu-Srinagar highway, which remained blocked for 48 hours.

Local reactions ranged from suspicion to curiosity. Residents initially mistook surveyors for police raiders, while surrendered militants - still carrying AK-47s - watched their work. "They seemed encouraging," Gupta noted. Nature proved equally formidable: winter snows halted work for months, while the Chenab River gorge demanded a bridge soaring 359 meters - taller than the Eiffel Tower.

The project's darkest moment came in 2004 when terrorists abducted and murdered engineer R.N. Pundhir. Yet, as colleague Bhanu Prakash recalled, local support helped work restart. A poignant 2008 trial run saw a Hindu priest, Muslim cleric and Sikh granthi jointly bless the tracks while villagers lined the route. “Even the cattle seemed puzzled," Prakash wrote, quoted TOI.

Now complete at Rs 44,000 crore, the 272-km USBRL features 36 tunnels spanning 119 km and 943 bridges, including the record-breaking Chenab Bridge. It will connect Delhi to Srinagar in under 13 hours via Vande Bharat trains, with four daily services (except Tuesdays/Wednesdays) covering the Jammu-Srinagar stretch in under 5 hours.

As the first Vande Bharat readies to roll, Kashmir’s rail revolution is a testament to those who built it: not just with blueprints, but with buckets, candles and unyielding resolve.