Afcons Infrastructure, the engineering and construction division of Indian conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji Group, has completed what is said to be the world’s highest single-arch railway bridge in the Himalayan terrain of India.
Rising at 359m above the river, the new Chenab Railway Bridge surpasses the height of the Eiffel Tower by 35m and connects the Kashmir Valley to the Indian subcontinent by rail for the first time.
The 1.3km-long bridge is part of India’s Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project.
In a statement announcing the development, Afcons said the bridge is designed to endure ‘Zone-V’ earthquakes, bomb blasts, and wind speeds of up to 266km/h and is built to last 120 years.
The bridge’s construction involved the use of the world’s reportedly largest-capacity crossbar cable cranes, custom-designed for the project.
The pylon height of the cable crane at the Srinagar end is 127m, indicative of the approaches employed to overcome the challenges of the remote and geologically complex Himalayan region.
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By GlobalDataThe bridge is stated to feature built-in redundancy, ensuring that it can continue to operate and maintain structural integrity even in the event of a pier or trestle being compromised, the Afcons statement added.
The project also saw multiple firsts for Indian Railways, including the use of phased array ultrasonic testing for weld inspection and the establishment of an on-site National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories-accredited testing laboratory.
Additionally, the bridge is said to have included the first-ever execution of incremental launching of a deck structure on combined circular and transition curves on Indian Railways.
Afcons executive vice-chair Krishnamurthy Subramanian said: “The Chenab Railway Bridge is more than just a marvel of engineering. It is a symbol of India’s resolve to conquer the most formidable challenges with ingenuity and courage.”
Afcons managing director S Paramasivan said: “For Afcons, it represents our unwavering commitment to nation-building and our ability to reimagine infrastructure in the toughest terrains.
“This bridge will inspire generations of engineers and stands as a tribute to the power of Indian engineering and teamwork.”
