In a signifiant achievement on Sunday, Indian Railways conducted the first train trial run on the world’s highest Chenab Rail Bridge in Jammu and Kashmir. This exercise was carried out to push the process forward to bring the bridge into general use. Notably, Railway officials conducted an extensive inspection of the newly built railway bridge.
Chenab Rail Bridge: Significance
It is an engineering marvel that was built in the face of multiple challenges, but most importantly, it will make the Kashmir Valley accessible and linked to the Indian Railways network.
The railway bridge is to connect many parts, including Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian, Badgam, Srinagar and Baramulla districts to the Railway network. The cumulative effect of the bridge will bring benefits like increased tourism and goods transport, leading to faster economic development of the region. The infrastructure this created will also come in useful for the armed forces.
The Kashmir rail project will bring another big benefit to travelers. It will slash the time taken to travel between Srinagar and Jammu by half. The travel time will come down from 7 to 3.5 hours.
Chenab Rail Bridge: Reactions
“1st trial train between Sangaldan to Reasi,”, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced today on X and shared a short video too. He also explained that, “All construction works for the USBRL are nearly finished, with only tunnel No.1 remaining partially incomplete.”
Marking this special day, Reasi Deputy Commissioner Vishesh Mahajan told ANI, “This is an engineering marvel of the modern world… The day when the train will reach Reasi will be a game-changing day for the district… It is a proud moment for us as our engineers have created a marvel. It is the 8th wonder of the world. The bridge, the wind speed, its strength, is wonderful… The exact date cannot be said, but I hope the day comes soon…”
In his remarks, Deepak Kumar, Engineer Konkan Railways said, “Today wagon tower has reached Resai station…We are very happy and proud that we have succeeded. The labourers and engineers have been working hard for a long time and today they have finally succeeded. The rail service will start soon on this bridge…”
Once all the inspections are done and the requisite approvals received from related authorities, the Northern Railway will launch its train services and expectations are that this will happen soon.
Chenab Rail Bridge: A marvel of engineering
The Chenab Rail Bridge is an engineering marvel as it stands some 359 metres (1,178 ft) above, as well as spans the Chenab river below. Notably, the arch is 1,178 feet above the riverbed. The arch was being built with the help of two cable cranes installed on both banks of the Chenab – the Kauri end and the Bakkal end.
The bridge has been constructed between Sangaldan in Ramban district and Reasi. To put things in perspective, the bridge is a massive 35 metres taller than even the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. The length of the bridge is 1,315 metres. Among the biggest challenges faced by engineers was the fact that this bridge was being built in the highly seismic and eco-fragile Himalayan region where challenges that kept arising were very unusual and required special attention and equipment to overcome.
Overall, the tests that have been conducted to check the stability and safety of the bridge include high-velocity winds test, extreme temperatures test, earthquake-prone test and hydrological impacts due to water level increase.
To make sure the structure is strong and secure under even the most adverse conditions, special quality structural steel was used. Notably, special painting scheme has been used for arch portion which is designed considering a number of additional parameters such as fatigue, seismic effect, blast load, global stability and composite action.
What does that mean? It refers to the fact that that the bridge can withstand wind speeds up to 260 kmph. It will have a long lifespan too – as long as 120 years.
The bridge is an integral part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Link (USBRL). While this entire project is valued as Rs 35,000 crore, the bridge itself is worth around Rs 14000 crore.
Chenab Rail Bridge: Next step:
A 2-day inspection will be carried it later this month on the 46-km Sangaldan-Reasi section, said he Commissioner of Railways Safety (CRS), D C Deshwal. To that, PTI quoted Northern Railway’s Chief Public Relations Officer, Deepak Kumar, as having said, “The works of Sangaldan to Reasi will be completed before the scheduled inspection of CRS.”
Chenab Rail Bridge: Timeline
The project was approved way back in 2003, got delayed due to stability and safety issues. It was only in the year 2008 that the contract for constructing railway bridge was awarded. It has taken the government and the engineers at the job site years of hard work to construct this project. Notably, the 118 km long Phase I of the project between Qazigund-Baramulla section, was inaugurated in October 2009, followed by the 18 km long Banihal-Qazigund section in June 2013 and then the 25 km long Udhampur-Katra section in July 2014 and the 48.1 km long Banihal-Sangaldan section, was inaugurated in February 2024.
Kashmir Rail Project: Highlights
1. Most challenging Railway project undertaken by Indian Railways post independence
2. Includes large number of tunnels, bridges in highly rugged, difficult mountainous terrain
3. To reach the construction site, more than 200 Km long approach road constructed including 1 tunnel and 320 small bridges
4 Chenab Bridge – 1315m Mega Iconic highest bridge in the world
5. Anji Bridge – 290m (1st Cable stayed rail bridge in India)
The Chenab Rail Bridge, which is higher than even the Eiffel Tower, has been described as the “8th wonder of the world”. This “sky bridge” saw the conduct of the first train trial run Sunday. Business Business News – Personal Finance News, Share Market News, BSE/NSE News, Stock Exchange News Today
