First cable-stayed bridge on Indian Railways connecting Katra to Reasi in J&K
New Delhi. The country’s first Anji Rail Cable Bridge has been completed amid extremely adverse geographical conditions of the Himalayas.
It is the first cable-stayed bridge on the Indian Railways connecting Katra to Reasi in Jammu and Kashmir on the railway’s ambitious Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla railway link project. The cable of the bridge will not change its shape in extreme heat and cold. Due to which trains can be operated safely. The bridge cables are specially designed with a diameter of 15.7mm. The cable length ranges from 80 m to 295 m. Stay cables are made of 31, 37 or 43 wires.
Anji Cable Stay Bridge is designed with a total of 96 cables on the lateral and central spans. The total weight of the cable is 848.7 metric tonnes and the total length of the cables involved is 653 km. On April 26, the work of laying the last 96th cable of the bridge has been completed. Which has happened in 11 months (June 2022 to April 2023).
A senior Railway Board official said that the Anji Rail Cable Bridge has been built over the Anji River, a tributary of the Chenab River. This bridge connects Tunnel T-2 towards Katra and Tunnel T-3 towards Reasi. Its total length is 725 metres, including a 473-metre long cable-stayed bridge, balanced on the axis of a central pylon at a height of 193 meters from the top of the foundation. The bridge has a single line railway track and a 3.75 m wide service road. High tech cables will neither shrink nor stretch. This will keep the bridge stable in its place.
