Kashmir Connectivity: USBRL, Chenab Bridge and Zojila Tunnel

The Press Information Bureau put out a research backgrounder on 17 October 2026 that gathers, in one place, the rail, road and air projects which have ended Jammu and Kashmir’s seasonal isolation. The Udhampur–Srinagar–Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) sits at the centre of the account, together with the bridges and tunnels raised for it.

USBRL, the rail spine of the Valley

Opened in June 2025 for Rs 43,780 crore, the USBRL runs 272 km across the Himalaya and touches eight districts — Udhampur, Reasi, Ramban, Srinagar, Anantnag, Pulwama, Budgam and Baramulla. Along the alignment are 36 tunnels adding up to 119 km and 943 bridges, and the line is electrified in the open stretches as well as inside the tunnels. More than 215 km of roads, carrying one tunnel and 320 bridges, were laid for the work and left behind for local use; the project also threw up over five crore man-days of employment.

Three structures that hold records

The Chenab Rail Bridge in Reasi district is the world’s highest railway arch bridge, 1,315 m long with an arch spanning 467 m and a deck 359 m above the riverbed, taller therefore than the Eiffel Tower. The Anji Khad Bridge, India’s first cable-stayed railway bridge, measures 473.25 m and hangs from one inverted-Y pylon 193 m high. Tunnel T50, which joins Khari to Sumber, is India’s longest transport tunnel at 12.77 km; the New Austrian Tunnelling Method was used to drive it, and cross-passages tie the main tube to its escape tunnel every 375 m.

Roads and tunnels towards Ladakh

The Sonamarg (Z-Morh) Tunnel, opened in January 2025, is a 6.4 km bi-directional tube sitting 2,634 m above sea level and built for more than Rs 2,700 crore. The Zojila Tunnel, 13.153 km long on National Highway-1 between Baltal and Minamarg, is an NHIDCL work costing Rs 6,808 crore; begun in October 2020, its main tunnel achieved breakthrough in June 2026 and should shorten the Sonamarg–Minamarg journey from roughly two hours to about half an hour.

Airports, stations and freight

An expansion of the civil enclave at Srinagar International Airport worth Rs 1,677 crore, with a new terminal of 71,500 square metres, was approved in February 2026; Udhampur and Kishtwar are planned under UDAN. Four stations of the region — Budgam, Jammu Tawi, Martyr Captain Tushar Mahajan (Udhampur) and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra — figure among the 1,340 chosen for the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme. Of the 142 Gati Shakti cargo terminals commissioned nationally, the one at Samba came up in 2024, and three more have in-principle approval for Kathua, Anantnag and Jammu.