US EditionModi Inaugurates Ambitious Rail Project Connecting Kashmir to Indian Plains
- On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially opened the towering Chenab River railway bridge—the highest of its kind globally—and also unveiled India’s first cable-stayed rail bridge spanning the Anji River, establishing a direct train connection between Kashmir and mainland India for the first time.
- The Chenab bridge project started in 2017 after approval in 2002 and included constructing 26 km of approach roads and a 400-meter tunnel, while plans for an arch bridge at Anji Khad were replaced by a cable-stayed design due to geological concerns.
- The 1,315-meter-long Chenab bridge stands 359 meters above the river, surpassing the Eiffel Tower's height, and was built to endure seismic activity, strong winds up to 260 kph, and last 120 years, with key milestones like the arch closure in April 2021 and the Golden Joint ceremony in August 2022.
- The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla railway line spans 272 kilometers through 36 tunnels and 943 bridges, significantly reducing travel time to about three hours via Vande Bharat trains, which Modi flagged off during the inauguration.
- The new railway aims to boost development, tourism, and local businesses in the historically troubled Kashmir region amid ongoing India-Pakistan tensions, with Modi pledging uninterrupted growth despite recent militant attacks blamed on Pakistan.
145 Articles
145 Articles
India has opened the world's highest train bridge and a railway line connecting the disputed Kashmir region to the rest of the country. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised the railway would bring new economic opportunities to the region and lashed out at Pakistan, again blaming it for an attack on Indian tourists in Kashmir in April.
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated a controversial railway in the disputed Kashmir region, one of many mega-projects the government in New Delhi has plowed into the region, which for decades has been the center of a bloody feud between India and Pakistan.
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