Adding yet another feather in its cap, the Indian Railways is constructing India’s first-ever cable-stayed rail bridge situated over Anji river (Anji Khad Bridge) in the Reasi district of Jammu & Kashmir.
The engineering marvel ‘Anji Khad bridge’ is a part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project, which will connect Katra and Reasi areas of J&K through the rail link.
Humongous than Eiffel Tower
The under-construction rail bridge, once ready, will stand tall at a height of 331 meters above the river bed – higher than the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The total length of the bridge is 473.25 meters and it is supported by 96 cables.
The Indian Railways in a social media post shared the breathtaking glimpses of the bridge and wrote, “An engineering marvel in the making. Catch sight of India’s first-ever cable-stayed rail bridge. Situated over Anji river, Anji Khad bridge will connect Katra and Reasi Section, a part of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla railway link, J&K.”
In October 2016, the Indian Railways decided to use cables to support the Anji Khad bridge as it would be extremely difficult to construct an arch similar to the iconic bridge being built over the Chenab river in the Union Territory as the Anji bridge is built on a single pylon. The pylon had to be constructed on a vertical slope by using micropiles of 40 meters in-depth, as per the Railways officials.
Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link
The imperativeness of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project can be measured by the all-weather connectivity it will provide to Kashmir valley with the rest of the country.
Deemed as one of the most difficult projects undertaken in the Indian subcontinent, the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link has been designed to withstand storms and strong winds. Given the complex geology of the Himalayan region, constructing the bridge is an uphill task. Further, the Indian Railways has divided the 272-km rail link into three subsections.
The rail link is being erected at a cost of Rs 28,000 crore, and the project will see many strategic tunnels in the Katra-Banihal line. In December, railways completed connecting one more tunnel in the Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Expanding network – Connecting India
In a landmark development, Indian Railways recently also connected the main and the longest tunnel of T-49 between Sumber and Arpinchala station of Katra-Banihal section of Udhampur- Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project.
Taking to Twitter, the Northern Railways said, “T-49 is the 12.758-Km-long tunnel and it is going to be the longest tunnel of Indian Railway surpassing Peer Panjal Tunnel of 11.2 Km length constructed by USBRL on Banihal-Qazigund section.”
“The south portal of Tunnel T-49 is located in the picturesque Sumber Village at a distance of 45-km from District HQ Ramban at an altitude of 1,400 meters, while North Portal of the tunnel is located near Arpinchala village Tehsil Khari in Mahu-Mangat Valley at an altitude of 1,600 meters,” Northern Railways tweeted.
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