'Golden Joint' of world's highest rail bridge over Chenab river inaugurated
On 13 August, 2022, the work of connecting the two ends (Golden Joint) of the world's highest rail bridge linking the Chenab River in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir was completed. The bridge is being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 28,000 crore.
This is a major achievement towards the completion of the 111 km long Katra-Banihal railway section, for which the Himalayan hills are being mined. Of this, 97 km of tunneling is to be done for the project and till now about 86 km of tunneling work has been completed.
The overarch deck of the world's highest rail bridge with 'Golden Joint', a part of the Udhampur- Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project, has been completed and the track laying work for trains will start soon. The bridge over the Chenab river is capable of withstanding wind speeds of up to 266 kmph and weighs 10,619 tons.
The construction of this project includes construction of 26 km of motorable roads for local villages, production of about 28,660 metric tons of steel at an estimated cost of Rs 1,486 crore and more than 80 per
cent of the construction has been done in site-workshops at Kauri, Bakkal and Surandi.
The steel used in the structure is suitable for temperatures ranging from minus 10 °C to minus 40 °C. The minimum life of the bridge will be 120 years and it is being made for trains with speed of 100 km. This bridge has the ability to withstand blast load and severe earthquake. The bridge has 93 deck sections, each of which weighs approximately 85 tons.