Jammu: Inching closer to connecting Kashmir Valley to the rest of India with railway network, the railways has successfully installed all 96 cables on, Anji Khad Bridge, the India’s first ‘cable-stayed railways bridge.
As per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Anji Khad Bridge is part of the crucial Udampur-Srinagar-Baramulla (USBRL) railway project in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to railway officials, it is an asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge balanced on the axis of a central pylon and is being built in the challenging terrain of young fold mountains of Himalayas in extreme geographical conditions.
The project director said that history has been created when all the 96 cables of this bridge were fully installed in position successfully on in a record time period of 11 months despite of all constraints.
Terming Anji Khad Bridge as an engineering marvel, the officials said that first cable-stayed bridge on Indian Railway will connect Katra to Reasi in Jammu & Kashmir on the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Line project.
This asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge crosses the deep gorges of Anji river, a tributary of river Chenab. The bridge connects tunnel T2 on the Katra side and tunnel T3 on the Reasi side.
The total length of the bridge is 725 meters which includes 473 meters long asymmetric cable Stay Bridge balanced on the axis of a central pylon of height 193 meters from the top of foundation, standing at a height of 331 meters above the river bed.
The cable stay bridge has 290 m span on the north side (Katra Side) while 183 m span on the south side (Reasi side). The bridge has a single line railway track and a 3.75m wide service road.
The strands for this bridge has been specifically designed with 15.7 mm diameter and has three layer of protection ie Zinc coated, wax filled plus PU / HDPE cover over the strands. The cable’s length ranges between a minimum of 80m up to 295m as a maximum. The stay cables are composed of 31, 37 or 43 strands.
Anji Cable Stay Bridge is designed with a total of 96 cables ie 48 cables each on Lateral and Central spans.
The cables totally weigh 848.7 MT and the total length of cable strands involved is 653Km.
As on date, 44 segments out of total 47 segments have been launched which required support of stay cables. Now, balance three segments shall be launched without stay cables as per design. Launching of the super structure shall be completed in May ’23—(KNO)
