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New Chenab Bridge Regular train services are set to start in the northern Indian region of Jammu and Kashmir. BBC reportMeasuring 362 meters from the valley floor to the bridge deck, the bridge is the highest railway bridge in the world.
The bridge was designed by a Finnish engineering company WSP Finland,Trinidad and Tobago Written last fallIn 2004, 20 years ago, the company was contacted by a local contractor in India African Infrastructure Construction Company. WSP submitted a bid for the contract to Afcons and the two companies were also successful.
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The bridge is part of a new rail link planned to be more than 270 kilometers long, the northern end of which has not yet been fully completed, according to the BBC. The rail line is intended to improve transport links in the region, where mountain passes are often blocked by snow in winter.
Jammu and Kashmir, a Himalayan territory of about 12 million people, is one of India’s so-called union territories. Along with the much less populous Ladakh, it forms the Indian side of the disputed Kashmir region.
The northern half of Kashmir is controlled by Pakistan, and India’s relations with Pakistan have always been more or less tense. Especially in the early 2000s, the risk of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan was considered quite real. In the worst case, even these two nuclear-weapon states openly mocking each other about the possibility of a nuclear strike, But luckily, nothing happened.
The BBC said in the news that the railway line will improve the strategic balance between India and Pakistan in the Kashmir region, improve the transportation links of soldiers and military equipment, and benefit India. In addition to the KV policy experts interviewed by the BBC, even the representatives of the contractor Afcons emphasized this point.
Local residents praised the new transport link, but many of them also complained that the railway would help the Indian government tighten its control over the Jammu and Kashmir region, the BBC reported.
The terrain is rugged.
Chenab Bridge is located in the middle of the mountain. This photo was taken in March 2023, when the test traffic of the bridge had begun.
Photo: Konkan Railway
India has sought to integrate Kashmir more closely with the rest of the country over the past few years. Split into the above two regions in 2019 According to the BBC, this is part of a long-term project.
Separatists visit Jammu and Kashmir The previous 35 years of struggle with the Indian governmentAlthough the situation has calmed significantly over the past decade and a half compared to the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s, approximately 30,000 people have died in the guerrilla war.
In addition to its political and military impact, the bridge will also help the economic development of the region. As the title of the article suggests, the BBC praised the Chenab Railway Bridge as a possible “game changer” for India.
8 years ago.
A snapshot of the Chenab Bridge construction work in 2016.
From Wikimedia Commons
The entrepreneurs interviewed praised the bridge’s impact on logistics as “very big.” On the other hand, the final transportation from the railway station still needs to be completed by road.
Unique design – must withstand 100 kg of blast force
The main span of Chenab Bridge is 467 meters long and the total length is 1,315 meters. The bridge uses more than 30,000 tons of steel. The maximum permissible speed of trains on the bridge is 266 kilometers per hour.
The construction of the bridge took two decades due to rugged terrain and legal disputes. Construction began in 2005, but a few years later, work was suspended for four years after Indian Railways raised questions about the strength of the rock under the bridge.
The design criteria were also challenging and in part unique. Cohen told T&T last fall that the bridge had to be able to withstand an explosion of 40 kilograms of explosives on the deck and 100 kilograms of explosives next to the columns without collapsing.
The bridge must not collapse or become impassable even if a critical structural portion of the bridge is destroyed.
“This is very unique to us, and I haven’t heard of this sizing being done anywhere else,” said WSP’s lead expert Pekka Purkinen Quote.
More traditional dimensional standards are based on natural conditions. The river valley is windy and the Himalayas are prone to earthquakes. The bridge must be able to withstand an 8.0 magnitude earthquake.
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