In News: Marvel in Making’: Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had tweeted on the world’s highest rail bridge arch on Chenab in Jammu and Kashmir.
About World’s Highest Rail Bridge
- 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.
- It surpassed the record of the Beipan river Shuibai railway bridge (275 m) in China.
- The arch bridge is a part railway project connecting Jammu and Kashmir to the rest of the country..
- The ₹1,250-crore bridge will be 359 metres above the Chenab river bed
- The overall length of the bridge is 1,315 metres.
- Construction of the first three phases of the project has been completed and the line is in operational use for running of trains between Baramulla-Banihal in Kashmir valley and Jammu-Udhampur-Katra in Jammu region.
- Three agencies; IRCON, KRCL and Northern Railway with extensive experience in the construction of rail lines are involved in this project.
- Railway bridge will be able to withstand up to 8 magnitude earthquakes and high-intensity blasts.
- It will be at a height 35 meters more than the Eiffel Tower in Paris and at five times the height of the Qutub Minar in Delhi.
Chenab River
- River in northwestern India and northeastern and eastern Pakistan.
- Formed by the confluence of two streams i.e. Chandra and Bhaga, in Himachal Pradesh.
- It flows west through Jammu & Kashmir between Siwalik Range (south) and Lesser Himalayas (north).
Source: The Hindu
