'First step to integration is connectivity': The marvel and meaning aboard train to Kashmir

SRINAGAR: Javid Ahmed wasn't expecting tourists at Srinagar station on a Saturday. "We haven't had more than a handful of tourists for the past few weeks," said the 29-year-old taxi driver. "Business has been lean since Pahalgam."

- Saurya Sengupta

But on a quiet Eid afternoon, a gleaming hulk of metal and glass rumbled into the deserted Srinagar station with over 500 passengers, catching shopkeepers, hawkers and taxi drivers accustomed to mostly seeing train riders from within the valley by surprise. This was a train from Jammu.

The Vande Bharat Express from Katra to Srinagar made its inaugural journeys on Saturday, bridging Kashmir with India's rail network-the culmination of a decades-long project that overcame steep engineering challenges and evolving political considerations.

Passengers emphasised that the Katra-Srinagar Vande Bharat, which takes less than three hours for a 190km trip, would reorient travel between Kashmir and the rest of India, making what was either an expensive or arduous journey significantly cheaper, faster and more reliable.

"The highway routes between the two regions are at the mercy of weather and topography," said Kishore Uppal, who works in Baramulla and lives in Jammu.

"The narrow roads mean you could be stuck for hours even if a bus breaks down on a bend," said the 66-year-old, who bought a ticket as soon as bookings opened.

"Travelling between home and work has always been a challenge for me. Flights are too expensive, especially during peak seasons. This train changes that completely," said Uppal.

But the two Chennai-made train sets, which run between Katra and Srinagar twice daily, may offer more than logistical relief. For residents of Jammu & Kashmir, the train may serve as salve for a Union territory bruised after the April 22 attack, which devastated the region's tourism recovery.

"We had no idea the trains would be packed. When we heard that the first train was full, we flocked to the station," said Ahmed.