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Big Feat: Country’s first cable-stayed railway bridge in J&K’s Reasi completed
India's first cable-stayed railway bridge has been completed in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir. The bridge is part of the Udampur-Srinagar-Baramulla railway project and has 96 cables, with a total length of cable strands of 653 km. The bridge connects the T2 tunnel on the Katra side and the T3 tunnel on the Reasi side and has a single-line railway track and a 3.75 metres wide service road. The bridge is 725 metres long, including a 473 metres long asymmetric cable-stayed bridge balanced on the axis of a central pylon of height 193 metres from the top of the foundation.
The work on the country’s first cable-stayed railway bridge at Anji Khad in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir has been completed, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
Vaishnaw on Saturday shared a time-lapse video of the making of India’s first cable-stayed rail bridge over Anji Khad, a tributary of the Chenab River drawing appreciation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Considered an engineering marvel, next to the world’s highest rail bridge over the Chenab River in Reasi’s Kouri village, the cable-stayed rail bridge has 96 cables. The total length of cable strands is 653 km weighing 848.7 MT.
Completed in 11 months, the task to set up the bridge was not an easy affair, given the topography and weather conditions in the area.
The chief public relations officer of the Northern Railways, Deepak Kumar said, “History was created on Wednesday when India’s first cable-stayed rail bridge came up over Anji Khad in Reasi.” He informed that the launching of the superstructure shall be completed in May.
“Indian Railways is edging closer to connecting Kashmir valley to the rest of the railway network,” he added.
The rail bridge is part of the crucial Udampur-Srinagar-Baramulla (USBRL) railway project in J&K.
“It is an asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge balanced on the axis of a central pylon and is being built in the challenging terrain of the mountains of Himalayas in extreme geographical conditions,” he said.
“History has been created when all the 96 cables of this bridge were fully installed in positions successfully on Wednesday in a record time of 11 months. The work started in June last year,” Kumar said.
The bridge connects the T2 tunnel on the Katra side and the T3 tunnel on the Reasi side.
The total length of the bridge is 725 metres, which includes 473 metres long asymmetric cable-stayed bridge balanced on the axis of a central pylon of height 193 metres from the top of the foundation, standing at a height of 331 metres above the river bed.
The cable-stayed bridge has 290 metres span on the north side (Katra Side) and 183 metres span on the south side (Reasi side).
The bridge has a single-line railway track and a 3.75 metres wide service road.
“The strands for this bridge are specifically designed with 15.7 mm diameter and have three layers of protection i.e. zinc coated, wax-filled plus PU/HDPE cover over the strands. The cable’s length ranges from a minimum of 80 metres up to 295 metres as a maximum. The stay cables are composed of 31, 37 or 43 strands,” said the official.
Anji cable-stayed bridge is designed with a total of 96 cables i.e. 48 cables each on lateral and central spans.
“As of today, 44 segments out of a total of 47 segments have been launched which required the support of stay cables. Now, the balance of three segments shall be launched without stay cables as per design. Launching of the superstructure shall be completed in May,” the official informed.
