Indian railway workers working on the completion of the world's most famous and longest railway bridge over the Chenab River in Jammu’s Reasi region have stated that the bridge can survive an earthquake of up to 8 on the Richter scale.
“The Chenab Bridge is sufficiently stable. It can survive an earthquake with a Richter scale of up to 8. It also has a life expectancy of 120 years,” an official said.
He stated that the bridge is 22 miles long and 35 metres higher than Paris’s famed Eiffel Tower.
He claimed that the Chenab Bridge is the world’s highest railway bridge which is being constructed by M/S Konkan Railways and is world’s tallest railway, standing at 1,177 feet.
“The Chenab Bridge is an essential component of the 272-kilometre-long Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project, which began in 2002. The goal of this rail link is to connect the main city of Srinagar with Jammu via rail networks,” he said.
He stated that in order to get to the bridge site, we built 26 kilometres of approach roads and a 400-metre-long tunnel.
“The railway project alignment crosses the deep gorge of the Chenab River near the Salal Hydro Power Dam, necessitating the construction of a mega bridge on the Chenab River,” the official explained.
He stated that a cable crane was commissioned in 2013 for the installation of a steel arch.
He stated that a cable crane was commissioned in 2013 for the construction of steel archways, trestles, and piers.
“Then, in 2017, an incremental launching over 2.74 degrees circular and a transition curve of 268m length were successfully done for the first time in Indian Railways,” the official added.
He stated that a substantial portion of the work was completed in April 2021, linking the 467-metre-long arch span with precision to achieve a perfect fit for the last piece of the arch without any additional stress.
The ‘Golden Joint’ of the deck is another significant bridge milestone.
The deck superstructure, which measured 785 metres in length, was launched from both the Kauri and Bakkal ends before being united over the arch.
The official said that the golden joint ceremony was held on August 13, 2022.
As per a local, there was a period when there was no road and no one had even considered the prospect of constructing a railway track there.
“It was completely a jungle. I remember walking up to my village with my father,” he recalls, pointing to a mountain some six kilometres away, where his community is located at its foothills.
He stated that it is the pride of the community.
It brings joy to the villagers of Salal Kot, Kanthan, and other neighbouring villages to see people coming to see the bridge. Though the number of visitors is small, they believe it will increase in the future.
“Though the number of tourists is small, they believe it will become a tourist draw in the coming years,” a local stated.
“We expect people to come see it with their own eyes once the train starts chugging from the bridge,” he said.
The bridge has a visually appealing or dramatic shape, with sweeping arches or curves that give the impression that it is in flight.