'Infrastructure marvel in making': Piyush Goyal tweets on 'world's highest railway bridge'

Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal. Pic/AFP

Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday tweeted a photo of the main arch of an upcoming railway bridge over the Chenab river in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district.

Calling it an "infrastructure marvel in the making the minister said that the 476 metre-long steel arch is "reaching at closure position."

"It is all set to be the world's highest Railway bridge," he added.

The arch bridge is a part of an ambitious railway project connecting Kashmir to the rest of India. Work on putting the main arch began in November 2017.

The Rs 1,250-crore bridge will be 359 metres above the Chenab river bed and stand 35 metres taller than the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris.

The railway bridge will be able to withstand up to 8 magnitude earthquakes and high-intensity blasts, railway officials had said at the time of the project launch. It will also have a "security setup" against possible terror threats and quakes, officials had said.

The overall length of the bridge is 1,315 metres.

It will be a key link in the 111-km stretch between Katra and Banihal which is part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla section of the Kashmir Railway project.

The construction started in 2004, but the work was stopped in 2008-09 on the aspect of safety of rail passengers due to frequent high velocity winds in the area.

(With inputs from PTI)