NEW DELHI: The world’s highest railway bridge, over river Chenab in Jammu and Kashmir, will be ready by next year, and will connect the Kashmir Valley with the rest of India by train for the first time by 2022, officials said on Sunday.
The bridge, which has a central span of 467 metres, is being built at a height of 359 metres from the bed level. The height of Qutab Minar in Delhi is 72 metres and that of the Eiffel Tower in Paris is 324 metres.
“This is the tallest railway bridge in the world and the maximum designed wind speed for the bridge is 266 kmph,” a senior government official said.
The construction work of the bridge was accelerated in the last one year under the direct supervision of the top echelons of the central government, the official said
According to the plans, Kashmir will be connected with train by December 2022.
The Udhmapur-Katra (25 Km) section, Banihal-Quazigund (18 Km) section and Quazigund-Baramulla (118Km) section have already been commissioned.
The last remaining section, the 111 km Katra-Banihal section is currently under execution. It is targeted for completion in December 2022. The 126 km out of 174 km of tunnels on this section has already been completed.
There has been a greater push in the last one year for implementation of various projects under the Rs 80,068 crore Prime Minister’s Develo