Udhampur
Vande Bharat Express, one of the country’s fastest and convenient rail services, is now going to run on another new route. The new Vande Bharat train between Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra station to Amritsar station will start running regularly from August 11. On August 10, the Prime Minister will inaugurate three Vande Bharat through video conferencing. These include Katra-Amritsar Vanderat Bharat, Bangalore-Belgavi Vande Bharat, Ajni (Nagpur)-Pune Vande Bharat. During this time a grand reception programs will be organized at Katra Jammu and Pathankot stations.
The Vande Bharat train starting between Katra Amritsar of information will run six days a week (left on Tuesday) and its primary maintenance will take place in Sahibabad. The notification of the inauguration of the train has been released by the Railway Board on 5 August 2025. In which it has been clarified that the inauguration run will be in the form of a special service, after which the train will come in regular operation.
The time of regular running of the train is different from the opening run. According to the information, Vande Bharat Train (02406) with eight coaches running between Katra to Amritsar will be flagged off from Katda station at 10:50 am via the Prime Minister virtual.
For this, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, Deputy Governor Manoj Sinha, Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra MLA Baldev Singh, Reasi MLA Kuldeep Raj Dubey, SSP GRP Sanjay Kotwal, SSP GRP Sanjay Kotwal and SSP Riyasi are likely to attend the proposed main inauguration ceremony at Katra station.
After leaving Katra, the train will reach Jammu Tawi station at 12:15 pm. Where a small ceremony will be held at 12:20 pm. The program at Jammu Tawi Station is proposed to be the presence of Jammu-Puntha MP Jugal Kishore Sharma, Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Ali Khatana, MLA Vikram Singh Randhawa, Jammu West MLA Arvind Gupta, East Jammu MLA Yudhveer Singh Sethi, SSP Jammu Joginder Singh and SSP GRP Jammu Shailendra Singh.
From where the train will reach Pathankot Cantt station at 13:50 pm, it will also be departed at 13:55 pm. Gurdaspur MP Sukhwinder Singh Randhawa, Pathankot MLA Ashwini Sharma, Pathankot Municipal Corporation Mayor Panna Lal Bhatia, former MLA Dinesh Singh Babbu, BJP District President Suresh Sharma, DC Aditya Uppal and SSP DS Dhillas are likely to be present at the reception organized at Pathankot Cantt Station.
Regular timetable of both directions of Vande Bharat train running from 11th
26406 (Katra to Amritsar)
Station arrival departure
Katra – 06:40
Jammu Tawi: 08:05 08:07
Pathankot Cantt: 09:30 09:32
Jalandhar City: 11:03 11:05
Vyas: 11:28 11:30
Amritsar: 12:20 –
26405 (Katra from Amritsar)
Station arrival departure
Amritsar – 16:25
Vyas: 17:03 17:05
Jalandhar City: 17:33 17:35
Pathankot Cantt: 19:03 19:05
Jammu Tawi: 20:28 20:30
Katra: 22:00 –
Udhampur disappointment due to not getting stoppage
This new Vande Bharat Express, which runs from Katra to Amritsar, has not been given a staple to a very important station like Udhampur. Due to which the people of Udhampur will not get any benefit of this new train, Udhampur railway station holds importance like Army’s Northern Command, BSF, ITBP, Sher-e-Kashmir Police Academy, besides the entrance to Jammu and Kashmir.
From here a large number of traders travel regularly towards Amritsar and Jalandhar, while this route is also very important for students and devotees of Vyas Dham. If Udhampur was given a stoppage of two to five minutes in the time -time time released by the railway, then the total journey of the train would have barely delayed, but thousands of passengers could have got the facility instead. In such a situation, it is now being hoped that in future the Ministry of Railways will also connect Udhampur station with this service, improving this lapse.
