Chenab Railway Bridge- Jammu and Kashmir

The Chenab Rail Bridge is a steel and concrete arch bridge located between Bakkal and Kauri in the Reasi district of the Jammu Division of Jammu and Kashmir, India(Disputed Region between India,Pakistan and China). The bridge spans the Chenab River at a height of 359 m (1,178 ft) above the river, making it the world’s highest rail bridge. In November 2017, the base supports were declared completed allowing for the start of the construction of the main arch. The bridge was fully completed and was inaugurated in August 2022.

In April 2021, the Chenab Rail Bridge’s arch was completed and the overall bridge was completed in August 2022. It is expected to open to rail traffic by December 2023 or by January/February 2024.

Key technical data of the bridge include:

Deck height: above river bed – 359 m (1,178 ft), above river surface – 322 m (1,056 ft)
Bridge length: 1,315 m (4,314 ft), including the 650 m (2,130 ft) long viaduct on the northern side
Arch span: 467 m (1,532 ft)[11]
Arch length: 480 m (1,570 ft)[12]
This makes the Chenab Rail Bridge:

The world’s 13th highest bridge
The bridge with the longest span in the 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge railway network
Introduction and topography
Northern Railway has undertaken the megaproject of constructing a new railway line across the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir between the towns of Udhampur near Jammu and Baramulla on the northwestern edge of the Kashmir Valley. This project was declared a national project in 2002. It is directed by the Northern Railway.

The extraordinary challenge lies in a large number of tunnels (totaling 63 km in length) and bridges (7.5 km) to be implemented in highly rugged and mountainous terrain, with the difficult Himalayan geology. The most difficult part is believed to be the crossing of the deep gorge of the Chenab River, near Salal Hydro Power Dam, by the Chenab Bridge.

Another, smaller, arch bridge proposed on the new railway line was the 657 m (2,156 ft) long, 189 m (620 ft) high Anji Khad Bridge between Katra and Reasi over the Chenab river tributary river. This proposal was abandoned by the railway due to the specific geology of the location and a cable-stayed bridge is proposed which will be Indian Railways first cable stayed bridge.