Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Apr 27: History was created when all the 96 cables of India’s 1st ‘cable-stayed rail bridge’ on Anji Khad in district Reasi of Jammu and Kashmir were fully installed in position on other day in a record time period of 11 months (June 2022 to April 2023) in spite of all constraints.
The AnjiKhad Bridge is part of the crucial Udampur-Srinagar-Baramulla (USBRL) railway project in J&K. 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 Bridge is an engineering marvel and it is the “first cable-stayed bridge” on Indian Railway connecting Katra to Reasi 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 m which includes 473 m long asymmetric cable-stay bridge balanced on the axis of a central pylon of height 193 m from the top of foundation, standing at a height of 331 m 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 is specifically designed with 15.7 mm diameter and has three layer of protection i.e. Zinc coated, wax filled plus PU/HDPE cover over the strands. The cable’s length ranges between a minimum of 80 m up to 295 m as a maximum. The stay cables are composed of 31, 37 or 43 strands.
Anji Cable Stay bridge is designed with a total 96 cables i.e. 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 2023.
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