World’s tallest railway bridge is in India, its height is…, it is located in…
A full-scale mock drill was conducted by multiple security agencies atop the Chenab Railway Bridge, the world’s highest rail bridge, in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday. According to officials, teams of Jammu and Kashmir Police’s Special Operations Group (SOG), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), General Railway Police (GRP), Railway Protection Force (RPF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and Village Defence Groups (VDG), took part in the mock drill which lasted for over two hours.
“The district police in Reasi, along with various security agencies, successfully conducted a full-scale mock drill at the Chenab Railway Bridge in Kouri, lasting over two hours,” the police said, adding that Fire and Emergency Services, as well as medical teams, also were a part of the drill.
Terming the drill as a “proactive step to safeguard critical infrastructure”, a senior officer said that the exercise was designed “to assess the preparedness of the forces to respond quickly and effectively to potential threats from anti-national elements.”
World tallest railway bridge
Standing 1,178 feet (359 metres) above the Chenab river in Reasi, around 35 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Chenab Rail Bridge is the tallest railway bridge in the world.
According to experts, the Chenab bridge is designed to withstand a blast of up to 40 kg of TNT and an earthquake of magnitude 8 on the Richter scale. It can also endure winds of up to 260 km/h and has an estimated lifespan of 120 years. The bridge spans over 1.3 kilometres, and is a vital link in the 111-km stretch from Katra to Banihal, which forms part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla section of the Kashmir Railway project, officials said.
Trial run completed
The engineering marvel is an arched steel and concrete structure connecting Baramulla to Jammu via the Udhampur-Katra-Qazigund route, with a travel time of approximately six-and-a-half hours, according to railway officials. The construction of the bridge began in 2002 but was halted in 2008-09 to address safety concerns for rail passengers due to high-velocity winds in the area. The project was completed in 2024.
On June 20 this year, Indian Railways successfully conducted a trial run of an eight-coach MEMU train on the Chenab bridge, paving the way for the start of rail services on the route from Reasi to Baramulla in Kashmir.
The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project, which includes the 48.1-km-long Banihal-Sangaldan section, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 20, 2024.
Phase I of the project, covering the 118-km Qazigund-Baramulla section, was inaugurated in October 2009 under the Congress-led UPA government. Subsequent phases included the inauguration of the 18-km Banihal-Qazigund section in June 2013 and the 25-km Udhampur-Katra section in July 2014.
(With PTI inputs)