New rail link fulfils 50-year wait for people of Kashmir

LEADERS ACROSS PARTY LINES, BUSINESS COMMUNITIES, AND RESIDENTS HAVE HAILED THE DEVELOPMENT AS TRANSFORMATIVE

- Mir Ehsan and Neha LM Tripathi

SRINAGAR/KATRA: The son of a former legislator who dreamed of connecting Kashmir to India's railway network five decades ago witnessed history unfold on Friday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) and flagged off the first Vande Bharat Express between Katra and Srinagar.

Peer Jalaludin, a former Baramulla mayor and senior PDP leader, watched with emotion as the train that his father had envisioned more than 50 years ago finally became reality. "My father was an assembly member from Baramulla from 1965 to 1971. He had raised this question in the then legislative assembly that Baramulla and Srinagar should get train connectivity with the rest of the country. That time it looked like an impossible thing," said Jalaludin, now in his early 60s.