Chenab bridge: All you need to know about World's highest rail bridge

New Delhi, Aug 13: Considered as World's highest rail bridge, the golden joint of the Chenab bridge was inaugurated on Saturday. With the inauguration of the bridge, Srinagar will be linked to the rest of the country after the overarch deck on the world's highest single-arch railway bridge over Chenab River will be launched.

Giving details to ANI, Sanjay Gupta, Chairman and MD, Konkan Railway said, "This has been a long journey. The term 'Golden Joint' was coined by civil engineers... It's the world's highest railway bridge."

All you need to know about Chenab Bridge:

• The unique Arch Bridge, which rests above River Chenab, has been constructed by the Indian Railways as part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project that will link the Kashmir valley to the rest of India.
• Built at a height of 359 meters above the river bed level, the 1314 meters-long Chenab Bridge is the world's highest railway bridge.

• Interestingly, the unique Arch of the bridge is around 35 meters higher than the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
• The Northern Railway, which is the northernmost zone of the Indian Railways, constructed the bridge at an estimated cost of around Rs 1486 Cr, with the design of the bridge reportedly being around 120 years.
• The bridge was constructed using 28,660 million tonnes of steel, with the alloy being specifically chosen to ensure that the railway project remained economical.
• Other than that, the bridge was built using 10 lakh cubic metre of earthwork, 66,000 cubic metre of concrete, and 26 kilometers of motorable roads.
• The Arch of the bridge, which weighs around 10,619 million tonnes, comprises steel boxes that have been filled with concrete to improve stability.
• The use of steel and other components makes the bridge capable of withstanding high wind speed of up to 266 km/hour.
• It has been designed for blast load in consultation with India's premier research agency, Defence Research, and Development Organisation (DRDO).
• Moreover, the bridge will also be able to bear earthquake forces of the highest intensity zone-V in the country.