Having the distinct record of being India's highest Railway bridge, the Chenab Railway Bridge is nothing short of an engineering marvel that blows one's mind with varied technical details, miscellaneous factors, sheer man power required, coming together of various government departments for coordination, expert and experienced personnel; be it the engineering department, design team, execution workers / agencies and a constant fight against inhospitable terrain, extreme and risky weather conditions in the Himalayas, logistic factors that required massive pre-work of building roads leading up to the point, that include tunnels of 63 km length and 7.5 km of bridges.
Here are a few details regarding the same.
Cost - ₹ 1,486 Crores
River - Chenab
State - Jammu and Kashmir
District- Reasi
Region - Bakkal and Kauri
Range - Pir - Panjal
Links - Katra and Banihal
Height - 1178 feet, from the river bed to the formation and 1056 feet from the river surface
Length - 4314 feet / 1415 m that includes 2,130 feet long viaduct on the northern side
Material - 63 mm Thick, Blast - proof Steel
Number of Spans - 17
Designers - DRDO, Konkan Railways, Afcons Infrastructure
Construction Company - Mumbai based Afcons Infrastructure
Number of Workers involved - More than 1300
Number of Engineers involved - 300
Major Institutions Involved include DRDO, Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, IIT - Delhi, IIT - Rourkee, GSI, National Remote Sensing Agency among others
Railway Zone - Northern Railways
Number of Villages Connected - 73
Part Of USBRL - Jammu - Udhampur - Srinagar - Baramulla Railway Line
USP - Connects the State of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of the country
Design Life - 120 + years
Start of the Project - December, 2003
Open to public / Inauguration - 13 August 2022, on the occasion of Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav
The engineering of the bridge was something that had not been attempted in such a unique Himalayan terrain and posed a huge challenge right from the envisioning stage and then on to its implementation meticulously to the T.
Major Features of the Bridge include -
36 m long approach spans
469 m main arch spans across the river
480 m arch length
1.2 m wide central verge
14 m wide dual carriage-way
Can withstand wind speed upto 260 km / hour
Can withstand an earthquake measuring up to magnitude 8 ( Highest intensity - Zone V )
Can withstand a blast of up to 40 kg TNT blast
Can resist temperatures up to - 20℃
24 hours online monitoring and warning system managed by the DRDO along with the Indian Railways
Aerial security
An approach road of 26 kms had to be constructed first to reach this point
It is 35 m higher than the Eiffel Tower, Paris, France
Having the longest span in the 5 ft 6 in / 1,676 mm broad gauge railway network
Material used include up to 4000mt of reinforced steel, 25,000MT of steel, 46,000m³ of concrete
Need of Eight million cubic metres of excavation.
World's largest cable cranes used
Footpath and cycle trails
Repainting period - 15 years
Continued…..Click here for the second part of the post
Images - Wikipedia and www.architecturaldigest.in
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