Modi opens Kashmir rail link

AFP | Srinagar

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first visit to Kashmir yesterday since a conflict with arch-rival Pakistan, opening a strategic railway line to the region he called “the crown jewel of India”.

Modi launched a string of projects worth billions of dollars for the northern territory.

Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan fought a four-day conflict last month, their worst standoff since 1999, before a ceasefire was agreed on May 10.

“Pakistan will never forget... its shameful loss,” the premier told crowds a month since India launched strikes on its neighbour after an attack on tourists in Kashmir.

“Friends, today’s event is a grand festival of India’s unity and firm resolve,” Modi said after striding across the soaring bridge to formally launch it for rail traffic.

“This is a symbol and celebration of rising India,” he said of the Chenab Bridge which connects two mountains.

The Chenab span is the “world’s highest railway arch bridge”, sitting 359 metres (1,117 feet) above a river.

While several road and pipeline bridges are higher, Guinness World Records confirmed that Chenab trumps the previous highest railway bridge, the Najiehe in China.

Modi called it “an extraordinary feat of architecture” that “will improve connectivity” by providing the first rail link from the Indian plains up to mountainous Kashmir.

With 36 tunnels and 943 bridges, the new railway runs for 272 kilometres (169 miles) and connects Udhampur, Srinagar and Baramulla.

It is expected to halve the travel time between the town of Katra in the Hindu-majority Jammu region and Srinagar, the main city in Kashmir, to around three hours.

The new route will facilitate the movement of people and goods, as well as troops, that was previously possible only via treacherous mountain roads and by air.