‘Infrastructural marvel’: World’s highest railway bridge in J&K is simply breathtaking

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal shared a breathtaking picture of the under-construction Chenab bridge, the highest railway bridge in the world. Goyal called it an infrastructural marvel in making. He added that Indian Railways is well on track to achieve the milestone.

“Infrastructural Marvel in Making: Indian Railways is well on track to achieve another engineering milestone with the steel arch of Chenab bridge reaching at closure position. It is all set to be the world’s highest Railway bridge,” he tweeted along with an image of the Chenab bridge arch.

Ministry of Railways also shared the same picture and said that the arch is finally reaching closure position.

The world’s highest railway bridge is 359 mt above the River Chenab in Jammu and Kashmir. It will be 35 mt higher than the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The Chenab bridge is on the Katra-Banihal railway line at Kauri village in Reasi district.

The cost of the 1.3 km long bridge is estimated at around Rs 1,250 crore. As many as 1,300 workers and 300 engineers were engaged in the making of the bridge that started in 2004. The construction work was halted between 2008-09 due to frequent high velocity winds in the area. The Indian Railways briefly considered changing the location of the bridge but decided to go with the original one.

The Chenab bridge is likely to have a life span of 120 years. It is touted to be the seventh-largest arch-shaped bridge in the world. There is no support in between except for at both ends. The arch is, however, supported by piers and trusses.

At the time of the launch, the Indian Railways officers said that the Chenab bridge is constructed to withstand 8 magnitude earthquakes and high-intensity blasts.