The Hindu : New Delhi News : Chenab bridge will be highest in the world

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Thursday, Jan 17, 2008
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New Delhi

Chenab bridge will be highest in the world

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: The upcoming Chenab bridge on the Katra-Quazigund section of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link will be the highest bridge in the world once completed.

According to Northern Railway, the bridge -- being constructed at an imposing height of 359 metres -- will span a total length of 1,315 metres and require 25,000 metric tonnes of steel. The work, currently in progress near the Salal Hydro Power Dam, will cost a whopping Rs.512 crore.

In addition to indigenous expertise of the Indian Railways’ Research Design Standards Organisation, Konkan Railway Corporation, National Institute of Rock Mechanics (Kolar), Indian Institute of Technology (Roorkee) and Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore), international inputs have been drawn from various agencies in Finland, Austria, Germany, the US, England, Norway and South Africa.

To ascertain the stability of the bridge under extremely windy conditions, wind tunnelling tests were conducted in Norway where similar conditions were simulated in a laboratory.

As part of the construction work, two pylons of 130 metres and 100 metres height will be raised on either side of the river and a self-propelled auxiliary crane will run on the carrying ropes across these pylons. The access roads required for the construction of the bridge have been completed on both sides.

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