Railways conducts successful trial run on Chenab rail bridge - world's highest railway bridge

THE Indian Railways on Thursday conducted a successful trial run between the Sangaldan - Reasi section, the world’s highest steel arch rail bridge over Chenab river in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Successful trial run of MEMU train between Sangaldan - Reasi section of USBRL project,” said Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a post on X.

The minister also shared pictures taken during the trial run.

The trial run started at 12:35 pm from Sangaldan and reached Reasi at 14:05 pm.

The MEMU passed through nine tunnels with a combined length of 40.787 km and the longest tunnel, T-44, of 11.13 km.

When will the first train run?

The officials said that the services on the line would start soon.

The flagging of the first train between Sangaldan to Reasi is likely to be done on June 30, connecting the Reasi district in Jammu to Kashmir via railway line, reported PTI.

Higher than Eiffel Tower

The 1.3 km Chenab rail bridge located 359 meters above the riverbed, 35 meters higher than the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris, forms a crucial link to the project.

With the commissioning of the 46 km Sangaldan-Reasi section, the work on only a 17 km stretch between Reasi and Katra remains, a vital section of the ambitious Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail link (USBRL), remains pending.

Project details

– Out of the total 272 km Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail link (USBRL) project, 209 km was commissioned in phases.

– The first phase of the 118 km Qazigund-Baramulla section was commissioned in October 2009

– 18 km Banihal-Qazigund in June 2013

– 25 km Udhampur-Katra in July 2014

– 48.1 km long Banihal-Sangaldan stretch in February 2024.

– The work on only a 17 km stretch between Reasi and Katra remains pending.

– The base of the steel and concrete arch bridge between Bakkal and Kauri, 42 km from Reasi town, was completed in November 2017.