Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) has stated that the much awaited world’s tallest rail bridge linking Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project on River Chenab in J&K’s Reasi district will be complete by the year 2021. Addressing a news conference here, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) KRCL, Sanjay Gupta said the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project is the most challenging project being undertaken after independence of the country and was highly essential to provide an alternative and reliable transportation system to J&K to link Kashmir valley with Indian Railways network. He said, the project also has world’s tallest rail bridge connecting important destinations and will be compete by 2021. “In view of importance of the project in providing seamless and hassle-free connectivity in J&K, the project was declared as ‘National Project’ in 2002,” Gupta told reporters adding that a part of this project from Katra-Dharam with 53.66 mm has been assigned to Konkan Railway for execution. “The project comprised 46.1 km of the route in tunnels, 4.6 km of the route on bridges and the rest in cuttings and embankments. In addition, Konkan Railway constructed 160 km of project roads including road tunnels and many temporary Bailey bridges to gain access to the Katra-Dharam section,” he maintained. The KRCL CMD also said that the project will give boost to tourism as tourists can travel from all over the country to visit various parts of J&K especially the valley. “It will provide better facilities to the students of J&K to travel to other parts of the country for educational purposes. The completion of this project will provide an all-weather and reliable connectivity to J&K with rest of the country by the railway network apart from providing connectivity by rail to far flung areas of J&K which will result in overall economic development of J&K,” Gupta further said. He told reporters that the project necessitates construction of a mega bridge over River Chenab which will be the highest Railway Arch Bridge in the world. “This iconic bridge soaring 359 metres above the bed of the River Chenab will be 35 metres higher than the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris,” the KRCL CMD maintained.
