The Jammu-Srinagar Vande Bharat Express could complete its journey up to 20 minutes faster after Northern Railway raised the maximum permissible speed across the Katra-Banihal section of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) to 100 kmph.
The speed enhancement, introduced in October, follows the removal of earlier restrictions that limited trains on the section to around 75-85 kmph. The higher permissible speed is expected to reduce the overall travel time of Vande Bharat services connecting Jammu with Srinagar, although passengers will have to wait for the revised timings to be formally implemented.
A senior Northern Railway official said the timetable change would be made during the next revision. “Although the maximum permissible speed has been increased to 100 kmph across the section, the revised timings will be planned in due course. The revised timings will therefore be introduced when Northern Railway undertakes its next timetable revision,” the official said.
The delay in applying the shorter journey time is linked to advance ticket bookings under the existing timetable. Until the revised schedule is notified, the trains will continue to operate according to their current departure and arrival timings.
The service currently connects Jammu Tawi and Srinagar through the USBRL corridor. Two pairs of trains operate on the route, providing four services a day on most days of the week. Train 26401 leaves Jammu at 6.20am and reaches Srinagar at 11.10am, while train 26403 departs at 1.20pm and arrives at 6pm. In the reverse direction, train 26404 leaves Srinagar at 8am and reaches Jammu at 12.40pm, while train 26402 departs at 2pm and arrives in Jammu at 6.50pm.
The service was extended from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra to Jammu Tawi on May 2, 2026. The route covers around 266 km between Jammu and Srinagar, while the wider USBRL project extends for 272 km and provides the rail connection between the Kashmir Valley and the rest of the Indian Railways network.
The USBRL project was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 6, 2025, after being built at a cost of around ₹43,780 crore. It includes 36 tunnels spanning about 119 km and 943 bridges. Its major engineering structures include the Chenab railway bridge, described as the world’s highest railway arch bridge, and the Anji Khad bridge, India’s first cable-stayed railway bridge.
The current route is a single-track corridor, but the Railways has kept provision for doubling the line when additional tracks are laid. That provision is intended to support a future increase in services. For now, the next operational milestone is Northern Railway’s timetable revision, when the higher permissible speed is expected to be reflected in passenger schedules.
