India tests first direct train linking Delhi and Kashmir

The railway, which PM Modi will inaugurate next month, marks the final step of connecting the capital, New Delhi, to Indian-administered Kashmir by train.

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India tests first direct train linking Delhi and Kashmir

A final trial run of a new line between Katra and Srinagar railway stations in India was completed over the weekend.

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The railway, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate next month, marks the final step of connecting the capital, New Delhi, to Indian-administered Kashmir by train.

Once in service, it will be possible to travel the 800 kilometers (500 miles) from the New Delhi to Srinagar, the largest city in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, in around 13 hours.

The new train line linking the Indian capital to Kashmir has completed its final trial run.

Officials say the service will transform the region's economy, but some locals are concerned about the project.

This service concludes a three-decade-long construction effort to complete the 272-kilometer Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Link (USBRL). The route's cost is estimated to be around $4.28 billion (€4.11 billion). 

Earlier this month, PM Modi virtually inaugurated the new Jammu division of Indian Railways, which will oversee the Delhi-Srinagar service, calling the new rail link a "watershed moment in new age connectivity."

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