The first cable-stayed railway bridge of India is expected to be ready by May this year on the Anji river in Jammu and Kashmir.
New Delhi,UPDATED: Mar 26, 2023 10:34 IST
Anji-Khad Bridge- First cable-stayed bridge (193 m height) of Indian Railways. (Screengrab)
By India Today News Desk: India will get its first cable-stayed railway bridge by May this year on the Anji river in Jammu and Kashmir, said Northern Railway officials. The trains will run at a speed of 100 kmph (Km per hour) on the bridge which is being constructed around 80 km away from Jammu.
The bridge is part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla-Rail Link (USBRL) project that railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav has announced will be completed next year. It falls in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir.
DESIGN AND SPECIFICATION OF ANJI BRIDGE
According to officials, the last deck portion of Anji Bridge, which is designed to withstand the wind at the speed of 213 kph, is expected to be completed in May this year as six more segments of the bridge are yet to be launched.
“We have already completed 41 out of 47 segments. We are hopeful that the remaining ones would be completed by April-end or in the first week of May,” the official said.
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He said the central span of the cable-stayed bridge is 290 metres and only a 52.5-metre portion remains to be completed.
“The speed of trains will be 100 kmph on this bridge which is the speed for the entire project. However, the trains will be stopped if the wind speed goes beyond 90 kmph,” the senior official said.
Currently, trains operate between Udhampur to Katra section. The construction on the 111-km Katra to Banihal line is currently underway and 52 km of this section, including the bridges on the Anji and Chenab rivers, are being built by the Konkan Railway.
Banihal and Baramulla are also connected by trains.
Once completed, the USBRL project will connect the Kashmir Valley to the Indian rail network.
Anji Bridge is an “asymmetrical” bridge erected on a single pylon and it has tunnels on both ends. Where the tunnel on the Katra end is 5 km in length, another on the Kashmir end is 3 km in length.
The cable-stayed portion of the Anji bridge is 472.25 metres while the total length of the bridge is 725.5 metres, which is divided into four parts, including an embankment.
This bridge has a single main pylon of height 193 meters from the top of the foundation, standing at a height of 331 metres above the river bed.
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The bridge work started in 2017. However, the main cable-stayed bridge work started in April 2018, after the completion of the approach portion.
BRIDGE DESIGNED TO HANDLE EARTHQUAKES, EXPLOSION
The bridge has a codal life of 120 years and could bear the explosion of 40-kg of explosive material. An integrated monitoring system with numerous sensors will be installed at various locations.
“Site-specific earthquake parameters studies were carried out by the Department of Earthquake Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, to define the seismo-tectonic framework for the region,” the officer said.
Besides seismic proneness of the region, detailed site-specific investigations were carried out by IIT, Roorkee and IIT, Delhi.
(With inputs from PTI)
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