World's highest rail bridge arch on Chenab in J-K; 'Marvel in Making' says Piyush Goyal

Srinagar | Friday | 26th February, 2021

Summary:

Referring to the iconic main arch of the upcoming railway bridge over the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir as an "infrastructure marvel in making", Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said, "Indian Railways is well on track to achieve another engineering milestone with the steel arch of Chenab bridge reaching closure position.

It is all set to be the world`s highest railway bridge."

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Referring to the iconic main arch of the upcoming railway bridge over the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir as an "infrastructure marvel in making", Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said, "Indian Railways is well on track to achieve another engineering milestone with the steel arch of Chenab bridge reaching closure position.

It is all set to be the world`s highest railway bridge."

Infrastructural Marvel in Making: Indian Railways is well on track to achieve another engineering milestone with the steel arch of Chenab bridge reaching closure position.

The 476 metre-long steel arch, which is set to be the "world`s highest" railway bridge in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir, is almost ready.

The Railways Ministry too shared the picture of the steel arch reaching completion.

"The steel arch of Chenab bridge, World`s Highest Railway Bridge, finally reaching closure position," it wrote on Twitter.

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 pic.twitter.com/yWS2v6exiP

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) February 25, 2021

All about the arch bridge

The arch bridge is a part of an ambitious railway project connecting J-K to the rest of the country.

Work on putting the main arch began on November 2017.The ?1,250-crore bridge will be 359 metres above the Chenab river bed and stand 35 metres taller than the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris.

At the time of the project launch, railway officials had said that the railway bridge will be able to withstand up to 8 magnitude earthquakes and high-intensity blasts.

It will also have a "security setup" against possible threats from terrorists and earthquakes, officials had informed.

The overall length of the bridge is 1,315 metres.

The bridge will be a key link in the 111-km stretch between Katra and Banihal which is part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla section of the Kashmir Railway project.

The construction started in 2004, but the work was stopped in 2008-09 on the aspect of safety of rail passengers due to frequent high-velocity winds in the area.

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