National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday took his maiden ride in the recently inaugurated Vande Bharat train from Srinagar to Katra township and said he was overwhelmed to see Kashmir finally getting connected to the country’s rail network.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said he hopes the intended Amarnath pilgrims will use the train and come in large numbers to the 3,880-metre-high holy cave shrine.
The annual yatra is scheduled to commence in the Kashmir Himalayas on July 3. On June 6, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off two Vande Bharat trains from Katra to Srinagar and Srinagar to Katra, marking the completion of the 272-km Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Link connecting Kashmir with the rest of the country. PTI
