Jammu: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav on Saturday (April 29) said that the work on the country’s first cable-stayed railway bridge at Anji Khad in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district has been completed. The bridge was completed in 11 months and the total length of cables used in the bridge is 653 km.
In a tweet, Vaishnav said, “In 11 months, India’s first cable-stayed rail bridge is ready. All 96 cables are set! He also posted a timelapse video on Twitter. The video shows the location of each cable, already Till the end
The bridge will provide rail connectivity between the Kashmir Valley and the rest of the country.
PM Modi praised the completion of Anji Khad bridge
The completion of the bridge was also praised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is closely monitoring the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Link (USBRL). Responding to Vaishnav’s tweet, the Prime Minister wrote “excellent”.
The completion of a single-span Anji Khad bridge with a height of 331 meters above the river bed on the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) is another major milestone achieved by the Indian Railways, which is expected to complete 37,000 crore project by the end of this year.
Minister of State for Railways Darshana Vikram Zardosh, who recently inspected the USBRL project by visiting various key locations including the Anji Khad bridge and the nearby iconic Chenab bridge, hailed the completion of the country’s first cable-stayed bridge despite difficult topographical conditions. described as “another milestone”. conditions.
“I visited the bridge site and congratulated everyone for successfully installing all 96 cables of the bridge in a record time of 11 months. This asymmetric cable-stayed bridge crosses the deep gorges of the Anji River, a tributary of the Chenab River,” she said.
‘PM’s vision to make Indian Railways the best’
Zardosh said that the bridge connects Tunnel T2 towards Katra and Tunnel T3 towards Reasi. “It has been the PM’s vision to make Indian Railways the best in the world. Overcoming geographical and climatic challenges, our engineers and railway officials have conquered the unbeatable.
Described as a “true engineering marvel”, the bridge has 48 cables on the lateral and central spans, with work set to begin in 2017, officials said.
second highest railway bridge
It is the second highest railway bridge in the world after the iconic arch bridge over the Chenab at Kauri, which is 359 meters above the river level – 35 meters higher than the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris, he added.
Anji Khad bridge
The total length of the Anji Khad bridge is 473.25 metres, while the span of the bridge is 120 metres. Officials said the length of the central embankment is 94.25 metres. He said the bridge has been designed to withstand heavy storms of strong winds and even blasts. In October 2016, the Railways decided to build a cable-stayed bridge over the Anji Khad, after plans to build an arch bridge similar to the Chenab Bridge were abandoned due to the vulnerability of the structure, mainly due to concerns over the geological stability of the area. because of.
The Ministry of Railways approved construction of a railway line from Udhampur to Baramulla via Srinagar in phases – 25 km from Udhampur to Katra in 1994, 118 km from Qazigund to Baramulla and 129 km from Katra to Qazigund in 1999. Considering the importance, the 272 km long rail link was declared as a “National Project” in 2002 by USBRL to provide seamless and hassle free connectivity to Kashmir.
Of the total 272-km USBRL project, 161-km was commissioned in phases, with the 118-km Qazigund-Baramulla section of the first phase being commissioned in October 2009, followed by the 18-km Banihal-Qazigund in June 2013 and 25-km Udhampur-Katra in July 2014. Work is underway on the 111 km Katra-Banihal section.
(With PTI inputs)
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