Coming up: tallest bridge on Chenab

Ray

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Coming up: tallest bridge on Chenab

- ARCH-SHAPED link to rise TO 359m




Srinagar, July 13: The completion of the rail link to the Vaishno Devi shrine base camp in Katra has shifted focus to a mighty rail bridge coming up across Jammu's Chenab river that may well be the world's highest.

Railway officials said the bridge, part of the 326km Jammu-Baramulla rail link that will connect Jammu and Kashmir to the rest of the country, would take over two years to complete.

Last week, the railways completed the 25km Udhampur-Katra stretch of the Jammu-Udhampur-Katra-Banihal-Srinagar-Baramulla link. Jammu and Udhampur are already connected by rail. Extension of the link to Katra has been a long-standing demand of pilgrims, who could so far take a train till Jammu from where they had to travel to Katra by road.

The 110km Katra-Banihal stretch of the project is incomplete and is expected to be commissioned by 2017. The bridge on the Chenab is part of this leg.

The officials said the bridge would rise as high as 359 metres from the riverbed, surpassing the 275m-high rail bridge over the Beipanjiang river in China's Guizhou province. It is being built at an estimated cost of Rs 512 crore.

Work on the bridge started around a decade ago but was put on hold in 2008 because of fears over its stability. The work resumed in 2010 after the concerns were addressed by Indian Railway with the help of experts from different countries.

The officials said the bridge would comprise an "arch-shaped" steel structure spanning 467m from one side of the river to the other. The remainder of the bridge across two mountains will span 1.3km.

"It will have a total steel fabrication (usage) of 25000 metric tonnes,"
a Northern Railway spokesperson said.

The inclement weather in the area — wind speeds go up to as high as 220kmph — as well as its extreme proneness to earthquakes have been a big challenge for the railways.

"A special design has been made to meet the challenge. The bridge is being built in Seismic Zone V. The slope along the Katra side bank is 35-50 degrees while the Qazigund (Banihal) side bank is vertical to sub vertical," he said.

Officials said apart from foreign experts, others from reputed Indian organisations would help with the bridge. Some of these are the Research Design Standards Organisation of Indian Railway, Konkan Railway Corporation, National Institute of Rock Mechanics Kolar, IIT Roorkee and IISc Bangalore.

Before the actual work on the bridge starts, two pylons about 130m and 100m high would have to be rigged up on either side of the river, officials said. They would then be connected with ropes, so an auxiliary crane can transport equipment and construction material.

Coming up: tallest bridge on Chenab
This is quite an achievement and even if it is the world highest bridge, what matters is that finally the Jammu line is being linked to the Valley and will give a great boost to trade and the economy of both the State and the Union.

Products and produce will soon be transported in bulk unlike the current mode through road transport.

It will also cut down the cost of maintain supplies to Kashmir and also to Ladakh (though beyond Srinagar it will still be by road).

It will also cut down the cost of maintain the Army since everything will be moved by rail.
 

EXPERT

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What if we also connect Arunachal with the Railways. .
 

ladder

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yeah, but it is covering very small part of Arunachal. .
the work is very slow and not seems to be ambitious like this project.
What you actually meant was a railway line like the proposed trans-Arunachal highway and a railway line from Assam to Tawang. Isn't it?
 

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J
What you actually meant was a railway line like the proposed trans-Arunachal highway and a railway line from Assam to Tawang. Isn't it?
Yes, you guessed me right. .
 

right wing

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Yeah TALLEST BRIDGE,LONGEST TUNNEL etc............. these all r comes only for kashmiri Muslims who throw stones,attack public&police but not hose who really deserved (say NE)

India govt msg to these goons more terrorism, more funds :frusty: Jai terrorist
no it means how hard u try we will hav ur land...
 

Ray

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Yeah TALLEST BRIDGE,LONGEST TUNNEL etc............. these all r comes only for kashmiri Muslims who throw stones,attack public&police but not hose who really deserved (say NE)

India govt msg to these goons more terrorism, more funds :frusty: Jai terrorist
I presume India does not have the power of God to landscape the terrain everywhere to have the Tallest and the Longest.
 

Ray

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I mean to say Bihar/Jharkand/NE are deserve(center) funds more than kashmir
Mamata Bannerjee feels that the Indian Budget should solely be for Bengal.

Notice how stupidly she claimed that Bengal has not got enough new trains.

Would this populist coot give land for new railway tracks or does she think that over utilising the meagre rail lines by choking it up is the way to progress?

Can't please all!
 

Srinivas_K

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Sir these are just political talks......they know we know politicians just blabber for some media space :lol:

can't please all............... if u take data more funds allocated to kshmir than poor states
Kashmir is been neglected for decades because of terror then people never cared, Lakhs of Pandits were driven out/murdered/threatened from their home lands and are forced to live in refugee camps .... then no one even said anything about it, leave about helping them.

Now Kashmir is getting funds for development as well as working for the betterment of its people including pandits .... and people forget the past and raise this as an issue.

People should know what happened to Kashmir, then talk, which used to be a major tourist destination and foreign currency earner before these so call self styled and self proclaimed GOD's warriors entered this paradise only to make it a hell.

It is worth investing in Kashmir which is a strategic point and also a major tourist attraction.
 
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Ray

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Yeah TALLEST BRIDGE,LONGEST TUNNEL etc............. these all r comes only for kashmiri Muslims who throw stones,attack public&police but not hose who really deserved (say NE)

India govt msg to these goons more terrorism, more funds :frusty: Jai terrorist
Now, let us see what the Govt has done for the NE.

Does the report below make you happy?

India's longest bridge coming up in Northeast

ITANAGAR: India's longest bridge coming up across the mighty Brahmaputra at Bogibeel in Assam is not only expected to be a lifeline for the Northeast, but will also strengthen the country's security.

Scheduled to be completed in 2016, the 4.94 km rail-cum-road bridge, a product of the 1985 Assam Accord and being implemented by the North East Frontier Railway, will provide connectivity to upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh and cut down the distance to the border with China by 10 hours.


Railway officials said that the rail link would connect two existing railway networks running at south bank and north bank of the river.

It starts from Chaulkhowa station and Moranhat station at south bank and joins in between Sisibargaon station and Siripani station of Rangiya-Murkongselek section in north bank.

Right now it takes one and a half hours to cross the river, but once the bridge is inaugurated, the travel time will be reduced to a few minutes.

Besides, movement of goods will also be possible on a larger scale.

Railway officials said the bridge would strengthen national security by way of truncating distance to reach the China border during movement of troops and supplies.

But not all are happy. As the completion of the bridge draws near, over 100 boatmen families are spending sleepless nights over fear that it will jeopardise their sources of income.

For Munna Singh, Brojen Doley, Rajesh Chowdhury and other majhis, it will be tough finding an alternative means of livelihood inheriting their profession from generations far into the past.

"I don't know what to do ....the fear of closing my ferry service always haunts me. How will I manage a regular income?" Munna Singh, who owns two country boats and is presently earning around Rs 15,000 per month, despairs.

Similar is the condition of Brojen Doley who owns a boat that ferries private vehicles of people from Arunachal Pradesh.

"I have no permit of the Inland Water Transport department of Assam to ferry passengers. I only managed a permit to ferry vehicles for only once a day, enabling me to earn a paltry amount," Doley said.

However, the chief engineer of the bridge project, Ajit Pandit, said that the boatmen's fear was unfounded.

"Even after the bridge is complete the ferry service will not be discontinued because there are many local people who will prefer river route to the land route in order to shorten distances to their homes," Pandit explained.

Besides, he said, once the bridge is complete, the economy of the area will improve and employment avenues will be created for the local people.

Pandit said the bridge, situated 17 km downstream of Dibrugarh city, would be the lifeline of the Northeast by opening connectivity between the north and south of the Brahmaputra river in the eastern region of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

The border of Arunachal Pradesh is just over 20 km from the northern bank.

The foundation of the bridge was laid in 2002 and the project was supposed to be completed in six years, but lack of funds and attention kept it idle till 2007 when it was given national status.

The national status meant that the Union Finance Ministry provided 75 per cent funds for the project, while 25 per cent was to be borne by the Railways.

Pandit said that besides funds, rains also proved a big stumbling block.

"In the city of Dibrugarh in Assam, it rains eight months a year. So any construction activity, especially on the Brahmaputra River, is a challenge," he explained.

Practically, his team gets to work for only four months in a year - from November to March.

The project flows from the Assam Accord signed in August 15, 1985, between the centre and the representatives of the All Assam Students Union and the Asom Gana Sangram Parishad that had spearheaded a decade-long movement against the influx of Bangladeshis into the northeastern state.

Talking to PTI at the project site, Pandit admitted to cost escalation as well. "The rise in the cost of cement and steel are also factors responsible for the cost escalation."

The construction work of the sub-structure of the bridge was awarded to Gammon India in April, 2008 while the work on the superstructure was awarded partially to Hindustan Construction Company, DSD, a German company, and Bangalore- based VNR.

India's longest bridge coming up in Northeast - Economic Times
 

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