Kashmir Valley Gets Its First Direct Vande Bharat Service to Jammu

Northern Railway has extended its Vande Bharat Express service in Jammu and Kashmir to run directly between Srinagar and Jammu Tawi, effective from 1 March 2026. The service, previously running only between Srinagar and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, now gives the Kashmir Valley its first direct daytime rail link to Jammu city itself.

A bigger train for a longer route

Alongside the route extension, Northern Railway has increased the train's coach strength from an 8-coach rake to a 20-coach rake, a move it has attributed to expected passenger demand on the longer Srinagar-Jammu run. The service operates on the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link, the mountain railway completed in stages over the past two decades to connect the Kashmir Valley to the rest of India's rail network.

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What it means for travellers

Until now, a rail journey between Srinagar and Jammu required a change of train, or a connection, at Katra. A single direct Vande Bharat service removes that break, cutting a meaningful amount of transfer time for travellers moving between the Valley and the plains, including those combining a Kashmir trip with pilgrimage travel to Vaishno Devi via Katra along the same line.

Traveller tips

• Confirm current timetables and fares directly with Indian Railways or the IRCTC website before booking, as schedules on new routes are sometimes adjusted in the first weeks.
• The route runs on the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link, which includes some of the highest railway bridges in the world; a window seat is worth requesting.
• Katra remains a stop on the line for travellers heading onward to the Vaishno Devi shrine.
• Kashmir's rail services can be affected by weather in winter; build in buffer time for onward connections during that season.