Jammu, Feb 16: The inauguration of Vande Bharat train service to Kashmir Valley has been postponed, officials said on Sunday.

Earlier reports, which the officials said were unconfirmed, had said that the Vande Bharat train service between Udhampur, Srinagar and Baramulla would be inaugurated on February 17 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The authorities have not given any official date for the inauguration of the train service while announcing the postponement.

The ambitious Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) is the most challenging railway project ever built by the Indian railways.

It is also one of the world's most challenging railway projects technologically. It is a gigantic infrastructure project built by the Indian railways.

The project includes the country's first cable-stayed Anji Khad Bridge with a 331-metre-high pylon.

The world's tallest railway bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower of Paris, the Chenab Railway Bridge is 359 metres above the river bed. There are over a dozen tunnels on the railway route between Udhampur and Srinagar.

Specially designed for extreme weather conditions, the Vande Bharat train can operate at minus 20 degrees Celsius temperature.

The train has state-of-the-art facilities including fully air-conditioned coaches equipped with electric outlets, reading lights, CCTV cameras, automatic doors, bio-vacuum toilets, Sensor-based water taps and a Passenger information system.

The coaches have wider windows with roller blinds and overhead racks for luggage.

The windshield of the train's driver has an advanced defrost system that allows clear vision in moist and high-humidity weather conditions.

The 150 km distance between Udhampur and Baramulla would be covered within two and a half hours. The initial swapping of trains at Katra will be dispensed with by August 15 when the Jammu railway station will be upgraded.

The commercial trial of the USBRL has already been completed and this 70-year-old dream of the people of Kashmir is now waiting just for its formal inauguration by Prime Minister Modi.

--IANS

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