Written by Atharv Balaji, a grade 5 student

The Chenab rail project is a railway bridge built by the Northern Railways. It is built across the Chenab river in Jammu and Kashmir and is the highest rail bridge in the world!

Chenab bridge, an engineering marvel.

Traveling in and around the mountains in Jammu & Kashmir has been difficult for people. Hence the USBRL project which stands for Udhampur – Srinagar – Baramulla Rail Link was designed. The USBRL is a 272 km long national railway line connecting Kashmir to the rest of India. Once the USBRL project finishes, trains will be able to go from Kanyakumari to Kashmir uninterrupted. 

The Chenab river bridge is a key link in this project that is built over a deep gorge. The bridge is at a height of 359 meters above the river bed. That is 35 meters taller than the Eiffel tower!

It weighs 10,619 million tonnes! In mountainous regions, narrow-gauge is used, however, this is the first broad gauge line. It took two and a half years to complete because whenever high winds struck, the construction had to be halted. It was finally completed in April 2021.

Built for safety        

 If you are travelling on the bridge and the bridge falls, you will die a devastating death! But not to worry. Engineers have designed the bridge such that it’s very sturdy. It is designed as an arch that is held by steel cables. It can bear high winds of more than 250kmph and high intensity earthquakes too.  Trains can run on it at a speed of 100 kmph. Since the surrounding areas are prone to frequent terrorist attacks, the bridge has been constructed with blast-proof steel to withstand blasts of upto 40 kgs of TNT.

The bridge will be inaugurated in 2022.

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