Soldier expecting a child, family of 3: All aboard the first Srinagar-Jammu Vande Bharat

While Jammu has remained connected to railway networks across the country, the roughly 260-kilometre distance between Srinagar and Jammu has been marred by landslides and inclement weather. This train, as a result, has been a dream in the making for decades.

While the Srinagar-Katra line has been functional since June 2025, passengers on the Vande Bharat to Jammu said that having to board or deboard an hour away from Jammu presented its own logistical challenges. “This is just wonderful,” Gagan, a soldier on his way home to Rohtak in Haryana, said on Saturday. “My wife and I are expecting our first child to arrive tomorrow, and with this train, I will be able to reach home tonight.”

Posted in Kashmir for the last two years, he said he has taken multiple modes of transport when he had to go home on leave but this direct train to Jammu is a “relief” for the time it saves.

This train, as a result, has been a dream in the making for decades.

As the train rolled out of Srinagar, for the most part, everyone stared out at the green expanse that is South Kashmir. The mountains, still covered in snow in May, the vast fields, and dense orchards. Until the train disappeared into the tunnels of the Jammu region, prompting a collective tilting of heads inward and conversations with strangers.

“I didn’t know I couldn’t select a seat, I got mine much after booking the ticket yesterday,” said an elderly Sikh man heading home to Jammu. A card game began in another coach as travellers expressed surprise at the leg room and began comparing it to the tight seats on a plane.

It isn’t just the time saved that is on everyone’s mind, it’s the convenience and the certainty of travel as well.

Aakash and Deepti Goyal were travelling in Kashmir with their son for the last five days. Just yesterday, they heard about the train directly to Jammu and booked their tickets. “We were planning to travel to Jammu by car and then take a train home to Hindon, but this idea seemed better,” Aakash said.

On Saturday, less than 50 per cent of the 20 coaches were occupied. Armed and unarmed security personnel walked the length of the train on the hour, and every few minutes, a cleaner came around and swept the floor.

The train made three stops before Jammu – Banihal, Katra (Vaishno Devi) and Udhampur. After going through several tunnels and the railway bridge over the Chenab River, it pulled into Jammu Tawi station at 12:45 pm.

It isn’t just the time saved that is on everyone’s mind, it’s the convenience and the certainty of travel as well. “Going to Jammu meant being covered in dust and grime and having a sore back. In this train, I know I will get home without exhaustion,” Sajad, a Kashmiri travel agent, said.

He said that because of landslides on the road, he would have to sometimes face hassles of booking for clients if they got stuck on the road. “One could never say how long it would take,” he said, emphasising that he now has “the luxury of certainty”.

The train made three stops before Jammu – Banihal, Katra (Vaishno Devi) and Udhampur. After going through several tunnels and the railway bridge over the Chenab River, it pulled into Jammu Tawi station at 12:45 pm.

The train halted for about 30 minutes while it was cleaned and restocked. On Saturday, the platform had students studying in different parts of the country, Army men returning to duty, and government employees set to return to Kashmir for the summer as the seat of government shifts to Srinagar on Monday.

While Jammu has remained connected to railway networks across the country, the roughly 260-kilometre distance between Srinagar and Jammu has been marred by landslides and inclement weather.

At 1:20 pm, it left from the same track to return to Srinagar. Among the passengers was Dharmendra Singh, a Himachal Pradesh resident who has spent 16 years posted in the armed forces in J&K. “I have only a few days of leave at a time. A lot of that was spent getting to Jammu in convoys and then taking a bus home. Now I can get home quicker and also bring family to visit safely,” he said.

In the early 2000s, he said travel to Jammu would take about 10 hours, and the road time has now come down to about six hours. “But that means being in a car for those six hours, unable to move. I can walk around and stretch my legs and even sleep in this train,” he said.

Armed and unarmed security personnel walked the length of the train on the hour, and every few minutes, a cleaner came around and swept the floor.

During the journey, an automated voice urged passengers to look out at the Anji Khad bridge, a cable-stayed bridge at a height of 330 meters. By 3:30 pm, the train had entered a 12.77-kilometre tunnel before it surfaced at the Khari station in Ramban.

Vinod Kumar, an employee with the J&K government, was travelling alone to Srinagar, where he is scheduled to join work at the secretariat on Monday. “When I was younger, a train to Srinagar seemed like a dream. We heard about plans, but I never thought I’d live to see a train cross the Pir Panjal and into Kashmir,” he said.

For the most part, conversations were about the feat of travelling by train between Jammu and Srinagar. “The engineering, the effort, the reality of it is still a surprise,” Vinod said.

As the train rolled out of Srinagar, for the most part, everyone stared out at the green expanse that is South Kashmir.

At 6 pm, as stated on the ticket, the train returned to the Srinagar Railway Station in Nowgam, and the shawls and jackets came out as passengers rolled their suitcases onto the platform and made their way into the city. The journey that was 10 hours one-way by car only a decade ago is now a 10-hour return trip with views to serve.