Shivang Satya Gupta
“Post-Pahalgam pain, people of J&K have a reason to celebrate; Govt of India’s gift on auspicious occasion of Eid and Nirjala Ekadashi”
June 6, 2025, will be etched in golden letters in the annals of Jammu and Kashmir’s history. On this sacred confluence of Eid al-Adha and Nirjala Ekadashi, the Kashmir Valley has finally been given the long-awaited embrace of the Indian Railways. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today would inaugurate the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) — fulfilling a vision first conceived by Dogra ruler Maharaja Pratap Singh in 1898.
A dream that languished in dusty archives, interrupted by political negligence and turbulent geopolitics, has finally arrived at its destination under the determined leadership of the Modi government.
This is not merely the story of steel tracks and tunnels, but of justice, integration, and the reaffirmation of India’s democratic soul.
Maharaja Pratap Singh had the foresight and ambition to connect the isolated Kashmir Valley with the rest of India. In 1892, he initiated the first surveys for a rail route. Over a decade, three different proposals were submitted, scrutinized, and revised. Yet, despite early approvals and foreign expertise, the project met a premature end following the Maharaja’s death and the rise of the freedom struggle.
It took 127 years — across regimes, failed attempts, and false starts — for this dream to reach fruition. And it is a matter of immense pride that it was another son of the soil, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who breathed life into this vision.
The USBRL is not just a piece of infrastructure. It is an engineering marvel built across the most treacherous terrain of the Shivaliks and Pir Panjals. With 272 kilometers of rail, 38 tunnels, 927 bridges — including the world’s highest railway bridge over the Chenab — and India’s first cable-stayed rail bridge at Anji, this project has not just connected a valley; it has moved a nation.
The timing of this inauguration is not accidental; it is providential. Barely two months ago, Pakistan-sponsored terrorists attempted to rob Kashmir of its peace once again in the cowardly Pahalgam attack. But the response was swift and unapologetic — Operation Sindoor delivered justice and sent a stern message that any malign intent towards Jammu and Kashmir would now be met with force, not appeasement.
And today, while cannons answered guns, this train is the response to ballots. The people of Jammu and Kashmir reposed unprecedented faith in Indian democracy by participating in large numbers in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. In return, they have been rewarded — not with empty promises, but with the nation’s most modern train, the Vande Bharat Express, now running from Delhi to Srinagar via Katra.
Pakistan for decades has attempted to distort the narrative, presenting Kashmir as a “religious issue.” But history bears witness that Kashmir’s real decline began after the fall of the Dogra rule — not because of religion, but because of political manipulation and terrorism fueled from across the border. Post-2019, with the abrogation of Article 370, the Modi government shattered the last remnants of that falsehood.
The inauguration of USBRL stands as a sovereign, secular, and strategic statement — that Kashmir is not a conflict zone, but a land of culture, commerce, and citizenry; as Indian as Delhi, as sacred as Kashi.
This train carries more than passengers — it carries the aspirations of lakh of residents of Kashmir Valley. Markets, eateries, schools, and employment opportunities have bloomed along its path. What was once connected only by foot or boat is now stitched seamlessly into the heart of India.
Where bureaucracies failed and political will waned for decades — Modi’s leadership, akin to the iron that holds the tracks together, remained unbending.
The USBRL is more than an engineering feat. It is a pilgrimage of national integration, begun by a Dogra king, stalled by colonial indifference, betrayed by post-Independence neglect, and finally completed by a democratically elected government that has given Jammu and Kashmir the priority it was long denied.
Let no one forget: while enemies of peace tried to keep Kashmir hostage with bullets, Bharat answered with bridges. And in those bridges lies a promise — that every voice that votes shall be heard, every dream dreamt in the hills shall find a track, and every child born in these valleys shall ride not just trains, but the wave of a rising New India.
This is not just Kashmir’s first train. It is Kashmir’s first true arrival into the heart of a resurgent nation.
