In 5 yrs, world’s tallest bridge to come up over Chenab

Devinder Thakur

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Kouri (Reasi), June 24

Touted as the next man-made wonder, the world's tallest rail bridge on the Chenab in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir is expected to take at least five years to be operational.

The 1,315-metre-long bridge between Bakkal and Kauri villages of Reasi will come up at a height of 359 metres.

Union Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha while laying the foundation stone of the Chenab Rail Bridge here today said the project would be completed by 2020.

Sinha said the vital project will not only contribute to the economic development of J&K but would also help in providing better transport accessibility within the state and the country.

The arched structure will connect Baramulla to Jammu via Udhampur, Katra and Qazigund with a travel time of six and a half hours.

Currently, it takes exactly double the time, 13 hours, to reach Jammu from Baramulla in northern Kashmir.

Construction of the Jammu to Katra section was completed and opened last year and work is in progress on the Katra-Banihal section.

The project includes construction of several bridges and tunnels along the route, including the one over the Chenab. It is will span across the Chenab river and provide train access to the Kashmir valley from Katra.

The project was suspended in 2008 due to construction challenges. The alignment of the entire Jammu-Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (JUSBL) project was reviewed and solutions were proposed for these challenges. The review work was submitted to the Railway Board and approved in 2009. The design of the bridge, however, was approved in July 2012.

The bridge will be constructed in one of the most complicated and isolated terrains. One of the biggest challenges involved is to construct the bridge without obstructing the flow of the river. Approach roads, five kilometres in length, have been constructed to reach the foundation of the bridge.

The deck of the bridge is partly in straight horizon and partly in curves. It is located on a transition curve with changing radius.

Construction, therefore, is being carried out in stages following the gradual change in the alignment. This is for the first time that a bridge is being constructed incrementally on a transition curve.

Cable cranes and derrick will be used to construct the bridge. The cable cranes used for the project will be the largest in the world.

The construction of the bridge will likely require 25,000 metric ton steel, 4,000 metric ton reinforced steel, 46,000 metre cube concrete and eight million metre cube of excavation.

Recently, the rail connectivity had encountered a new hurdle with E Sreedharan panel raising serious concerns over the safety and stability of the proposed mega-arch bridge on the Chenab.

The panel had also called for changing the present alignment of the bridge, which when completed will be the world's highest rail bridge. However, the Railway Board resolutely refused to heed to the panel's "misgivings".

Railway officials said the plea was rejected on the basis that the alignment design had been assessed by expert agencies working in the hilly areas abroad and they did not find any problems in it. So there is no reason why we should change it.