Importance of the Bridge
- World’s tallest railway arch bridge over the Chenab river in Jammu, providing rail connectivity to Kashmir.
- It will be capable of handling high intensity blasts and resisting the worst possible natural disaster.
- This is for the first time globally that a bridge is designed to handle high level trinitrotoluene (TNT) blast load.
About the Project
- The bridge will be a crucial link in the 111-km stretch between Katra (Jammu) and Banihal (Kashmir) which is part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla.
- The railway project aimed at linking Kashmir through rail with the rest of the country.
- The 1.3 km long bridge over the Chenab at a height of 359 metres will be 35m taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris and five times the height of the Qutab Minar in Delhi.
- The project site located at 60 km from the Pakistan border.
- The construction work of the Chenab Bridge declared as a national project in August 2004.
IAS Current Affairs 