In a first, Vande Bharat Express crosses world's highest Chenab rail bridge at 100 kmph

The ministry of railways, sharing a video of the train crossing the bridge, wrote on X, "For the first time, Vande Bharat crosses Chenab Bridge at 100 km/h."

Updated on: Oct 3, 2026, 09:02:20 IST

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In a historic first, the Vande Bharat Express crossed the world's highest railway bridge over the Chenab River and India's first cable-stayed railway bridge at Anji at 100 kmph.

This came after the revision of the maximum permissible speed on the 111-km Katra-Banihal broad-gauge rail section to 100 kmph, news agency PTI reported, citing officials.

The ministry of railways, sharing a video of the train crossing the bridge, wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "For the first time, Vande Bharat crosses Chenab Bridge at 100 km/h."

Vande Bharat Express creates new record

Uchit Singhal, senior divisional commercial manager, Jammu Division, Northern Railway, said that the maximum permissible speed on the 111-km-long Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra-Banihal section has been increased from 75 kmph to 100 kmph.

He added that the Vande Bharat Express, train number 26401/26404, created a new record by crossing both the world's highest Chenab Bridge and India's first cable-stayed Anji Bridge at 100 kmph, according to the report.

Officials noted that the railway ministry approved the increase in the maximum permissible speed to 100 kmph after the Railways complied with all prescribed safety conditions in August.

Train speed on Katra-Banihal section raised to 100 kmph

Earlier on Friday, Union minister of state for railways V Somanna said the maximum permissible speed on the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra-Banihal section has been increased from 75 kmph to 100 kmph.

Speaking to reporters at Katra, Somanna said that the speed of trains in Jammu and Kashmir would be increased further.

"The speed was 75 kmph, and today it is 100 kmph. Later, in another six months, maybe one year, as I understand it, it may further go up. Our concern is how the express trains run and how the express trains operate. General trains should also run in the same way," Somanna was quoted as saying in a PTI report.

"What is 100 kmph? It should become 130 kmph; it should become 160 kmph. This is a very big resolve of Modi ji," he said.

He also reportedly spoke about the railways' role in transporting essential commodities.

"How well the deliveries are being made — milk, foodgrains and other things. As far as Kashmir is concerned, look at the statistics: more than 25,000 tonnes are being sent from here to different parts of the country," he said.

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