World's highest railway bridge on Chenab river to get GOLDEN JOINT

Indian railways has achieved a lot of milestones lately, but the organisation is on the verge to complete the construction of the world's highest single-arch railway bridge over the Chenab River. 

The completion of the bridge is scheduled for next week. The bridge is being built at a height that can make people go weak. Well, the bridge sits at a height of 359 metres. 

For perspective, it should be noted that it can fit the Eiffel Tower beneath it, along with a 10-story building. Also, the bridge will feature a "Golden Joint" that will connect the two sides of the bridge.

The golden joint will club the two segments on the bridge and the bridge overarch deck with the help of High Strength Friction Grip (HSFG) bolts, which make the critical 'golden joint' on the engineering marvel. 

Well, it would now be clear that a Golden Joint doesn't mean that the joint will be made of expensive metal. It should be noted that Gold isn't a strong metal, as it is highly malleable, therefore limiting its use to jewellery.

The bridge comprises 93 deck segments, each weighing around 85 tonnes. Also, the bridge has so far gobbled up around 30,350 tonnes steel, comprising 10,620 tonnes to build the gigantic arch and 14,500 tonnes for the bridge deck, and stands majestically near the Kauri village on the upstream of Salal Dam.

Given the height, the extreme weather conditions and strong gales that often lash the valley, the sophisticated automatic signalling system installed on both sides will stop the trains from crossing the bridge if wind speeds there touch 90-kmph.

The project is part of the ambitious 272-kms long railway line from Udhampur to Baramulla joining Jammu with the Kashmir valley as an all-weather highspeed alternative, named the 'Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project'.

When completed, it will connect the Salal-A and Dugga railway stations on either side of the bridge with the mighty River Chenab gushing below in the picture-postcard Reasi district.

The 272-km long railway line will have 38 tunnels (total length 119 -kms) with the country's longest tunnel T-49 (12.75 kms), 927 big and small bridges (total length 13 kms), and mark a new era in the development and progress of Jammu & Kashmir.