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Chenab Railway Bridge inauguration: World’s highest railway arch bridge, named Chenab Railway Bridge, is set to inaugurated today, June 6, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This inauguration comes on the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha festival. This marks a landmark moment in India’s infrastructure journey.
- Until now, trains operated between Sangaldan and Baramulla in the Kashmir Valley, while rail link to rest of the country was available through Katra.
- The world’s highest railway arch bridge in discussion is a whopping 1,315 metres long.
- A testament to cutting-edge engineering, the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project was built at a cost of approximately ₹43,780 crore.
- A testament to India’s robust security features, the all-weather bridge has been built with blast-resistant steel and concrete for the first time.
- Given its location in a high-risk seismic zone, the Chenab Railway Bridge can withstand tremors of high magnitude and wind speeds of up to 266 km/h.
- The first proposal about connecting the Kashmir Valley to the rest of the country by rail dates back to 1970s, which was during the tenure of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
- This particular project received formal approval in 1994 at a Cabinet meeting chaired by her successor, P V Narasimha Rao.
- The construction work on this project commenced in 2002, this was when funding for land acquisition was approved by Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government.
Designed for exceptional resilience, this project will end over 70 years of wait time for a direct train service to Kashmir. Besides this, PM Modi will flag off two Vande Bharat Express trains today. These trains will connect Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra and Srinagar and provide fast, comfortable and reliable travel option. The first passenger train will reach Srinagar after setting off from Delhi via the pilgrim town Katra.