World's highest railway bridge to open in J&K

With the upcoming opening of the tallest railway bridge in the world crossing the Chenab River, Jammu and Kashmir will soon be able to brag about having it. The Chenab railway bridge, built over the river at a height of 359m (1,178 feet), towers at least 35 meters above Paris's Eiffel Tower.

The bridge is located between Bakkal and Kauri in the Reasi district and is a part of the USBRL (Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Link), which connects Jammu and Srinagar and is expected to finish by December 2023 or January 2024. It should be mentioned that the construction of this bridge posed the greatest civil engineering mission to any recent Indian railway project.

Twenty years after the project's approval in 2003, the bridge will be soon open as it has passed all required inspections. Despite the fact that the works started in 2004, it had to be put on hold from 2008 to 2009 for the passengers' safety because of the high-velocity winds in the area. After several delays due to stability and safety concerns, the deal was finally delivered in 2008 even though the project has repeatedly missed deadlines.

The base was finished in November 2017 while the main arch was completed in April 2021. With the completion of the overarch deck in August 2022, the steel and concrete arch bridge reached a significant milestone. According to officials, the bridge will be able to resist winds up to 260 kmph and have a lifespan of 120 years.

Officials from the railway have now verified that track lane construction over the bridge has begun and is complete and available for commissioning. When inspecting the bridge on Saturday, Ashwini Vaishnaw, the minister of railways, announced that two additional tests of a motor trolley and bolero customized train operation would be conducted. The safety inspections that have been performed include tests for high-velocity winds, extreme temperatures, earthquake-prone areas, and hydrological effects from rising water levels. The minister claimed that construction on the Chenab and Anji bridges is moving quickly and referred to the "world's highest bridge" as an "engineering marvel."

The largest railway tunnel (12.75 km) and the first cable-stayed bridge (Anji Khad bridge) in India are both firsts that were part of the USBRL project. The Anji bridge will also be finished by August 2023 and ready for commissioning by September.