Hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to inaugurate the final stretch of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Line (USBRL), the Congress on Friday termed the project a “powerful example of continuity in governance”—one which it accused Modi of refusing to acknowledge in his “perennial desire for self-glory.”
The Congress' statement, issued by senior leader and general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, provided a detailed timeline tracing the evolution of the 272-km project through the rugged Himalayas. The railway link has been built over three decades at a cost of ₹43,780 crore, and, the Congress claims, is emblematic of a long-standing national vision, not just a recent political triumph.
“Governance involves great continuity, a fact consistently denied by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his perennial desire for self-glory,” said Ramesh, emphasising the nature of public works that outlast electoral cycles.
The USBRL was first sanctioned in March 1995, during the tenure of Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. It was declared a national project in March 2002 by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, furthering its strategic importance.
The first operational section—Jammu to Udhampur—was inaugurated in April 2005 by former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. Between 2008 and 2013, Dr Singh presided over several major inaugurations:
Anantnag to Mazhom in 2008
Mazhom to Baramulla in 2009
Anantnag to Qazigund later in 2009
Qazigund to Banihal in 2013
Also read: Kashmir rail project completed due to PM Modi’s will
By mid-2013, a 135-km stretch from Baramulla to Qazigund was fully operational. The inauguration of the Udhampur-Katra section was delayed due to the Model Code of Conduct for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and was opened by Prime Minister Modi 39 days after assuming office.
The party also noted that the final and most arduous stretch—Katra to Banihal (111 km)—was largely the result of contracts and groundwork initiated well before 2014. These included the Chenab Bridge, for which contracts were awarded as early as 2005 to Konkan Railway Corporation, Afcons, VSL India, and South Korea’s Ultra Construction and Engineering.
“The Indian National Congress greets the people of Jammu and Kashmir on this important occasion. It also congratulates the personnel of the Indian Railways, and the public sector and private companies involved in the execution of the USBRL over the past three decades,” said Ramesh.
Describing the feat as a “collective resolve and success in the face of the gravest of odds,” Ramesh’s post on X (formerly Twitter) further suggested the Prime Minister cannot “run away” from the contributions of earlier governments.
Echoing the sentiment, Congress MP Vivek Tankha remarked, “A statesman always acknowledges the past as he plans the future. History can never be obliterated.”
The USBRL, one of the most ambitious rail projects in India’s history, has had to overcome engineering, topographical, and security challenges in a region that has often been in the global spotlight. While Modi’s inauguration of the final stretch may mark the end of the physical project, the political contest over its ownership appears far from over.
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