Indian Engineers are building the World's highest railway bridge

Indian engineers are toiling in the Himalayas to build the world's highest railway bridge which is expected to be 35 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower when completed by 2016.



The arch-shaped steel structure is being constructed over the Chenab river to link sections of the spectacular mountainous region of Jammu and Kashmir.

The bridge is expected to be 359 metres (1,177 feet) high when completed — surpassing the world's current tallest railway bridge over the Beipanjiang river in China's Guizhou province, which stands at 275 metres high.

It is a part of project that will connect Baramulla and Srinagar to Jammu via Udhampur-Katra-Qazigund covering the entire route in about seven hours. Currently, it takes exactly double the time - 13 hours - to reach Jammu from Baramulla in northern Kashmir, which is 60 km from Srinagar. Indian Railways has undertaken the Jammu-Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Line (JUSBRL) mega-project construction which has been declared a national project. The alignment is a combination of a large number of tunnels and bridges. The alignment crosses a deep gorge of the Chenab River, near Salal Hydro Power Dam, which necessitated construction of a long span bridge.


The bridge will have a lifespan of 120 years and will contribute to the economic development, better transportation accessibility to the state and the country.The height of Chenab Bridge is 390 meters exceeding the current tallest bridge on France’s Tarn River (tallest pillar rises 340 meters while the actual height at which trains run on the bridge is 300 meters). The construction of the JUSBRL was started in 2003 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister.

SOURCE:http://www.younews.in/