Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw travelled on the first trial run of a track-mounted trolley on the world’s highest arch bridge constructed on the Chenab river. He inspected the iconic bridge having a height of 359 metres from the Chenab riverbed.

The track work on the Chenab bridge has been completed and now electric work will be undertaken, besides the installation of Kavach — an anti-collision safety device.

Key features of the bridge:

• It is a part of the ambitious Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link (USBRL) project.

• The arch bridge lies between Bakkal and Kauri in the Reasi district of Jammu & Kashmir.

• The deck height of the bridge is 359 metres, while its length is 1,315 metres. The arch bridge has 17 spans and the linear length of the main arch span is 460 metres and it is curvilinear.

• The bridge, which is 35 metres higher than the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris, forms a crucial link in the 111-km stretch from Katra to Banihal. 

The construction work on the bridge started in 2004 but had to be suspended in 2008-09 to consider the aspect of safety of rail passengers in view of frequent high velocity winds in the area.

More than 28,000 metric tonnes of steel was used for the bridge structure that is built in a highly active seismic zone.

The arch bridge is being constructed at Rs 1,486 crore.

The codal life of the bridge is 120 years and the bridge can withstand a wind speed of 266 kmph, but the train can cross the bridge at the speed of 100 kmph.

Once completed, this bridge will open up new possibilities for the remote regions of Jammu & Kashmir.

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