World’s Highest Chenab Railway Bridge Inaugurated

Highlights:

• The golden joint of the world’s highest railway bridge over River Chenab was inaugurated. 
• For the first time ever since independence, Srinagar will be linked to the rest of India after the overarch deck on the world’s highest single-arch railway bridge over River Chenab.
• Chenab Bridge was a famous bridge with intricate engineering that had to overcome several challenges.
• The geology, the harsh terrain, and the hostile environment were just a few of the challenges that the engineers and railway officials had to overcome to get to this point.

• Roughly, the 1.3-km bridge, which is being constructed at a cost of Rs 1,250 crore, is 98 per cent complete with the completion of the 'golden joint'.
• The bridge is located 359 m above the Chenab riverbed and is 30 m higher than the Eiffel Tower in Paris
• For constructing the bridge, pylons were erected on either side of the river and two auxiliary self-propelled cable cranes were used to tow temporary auxiliary ropes across these pylons.
• The construction started in 2004 but the work was stopped in 2008-09 to consider the aspect of safety of rail passengers in view of frequent high velocity winds in the area.
• Once completed, the bridge will be able to withstand winds with speeds up to 260 kmph and will have a lifespan of 120 years.