Travel to Vaishno Devi shrine is expected to get much easier as several Mail, Express and local trains are expected to go up to Katra, the shrine’s base camp.
Ongoing project of the construction of 25 km-long Uddhampur-Katra rail link is almost complete, and several mails, express and local trains are likely to go up to Katra, the base camp of Vaishno Devi shrine from July onward. The new route will let pilgrims to reach the base camp of Vaishno Devi shrine at Katra without having to break their journey at Jammu.
The Udhampur-Katra rail route passes through inhospitable terrain, making it an extremely challenging engineering project. The route consists of seven tunnels and 30 small and big bridges, including a 185-feet high tunnel. A total of seven tunnels span over 10 km of the 25-km stretch.
The trains, including New Delhi-Uddhampur Uttar Sampark Kranti, Jammu Mail, Chandigarh-Katra Express, Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Uddhampur Express, Ahmedabad-Uddhampur Express, Delhi-Pathankot Express, among others are likely to reach Katra once the line is operational.
Katra station is ready with three platforms and two more platforms will come up later.
Rajasthan Tourism Beat 