The Anji Khad bridge is an under-construction

cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern o ...

connecting the Katra and

Reasi Reasi is a town and a notified area committee and tehsil in Reasi district of the Indian States and union territories of India, union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. Situated at the bank of River Chenab, It ...

sections of the Jammu–Baramulla railway line in the

Jammu Division The Jammu division (; ) is a revenue and administrative division within Jammu and Kashmir, a union territory of India. It consists of the districts of Jammu, Doda, Kathua, Ramban, Reasi, Kishtwar, Poonch, Rajouri, Udhampur and Samba. Most o ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

, India. The bridge lies southeast of the

Chenab Bridge The Chenab Rail Bridge is a steel and concrete arch bridge between Bakkal and Kauri and just 42 km from main Reasi town in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir, India. The bridge spans the Chenab River at a height of above the river, mak ...

, near Reasi, along which the alignment of the railway line crosses the deep gorge of the Anji Khad or chasm. An earlier

arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...

design proposal similar to that of the

was rejected and a new cable-stayed design was approved. When completed, it will become India's first cable-stayed railway bridge. It is being built by

Hindustan Construction Company Hindustan Construction Company Limited (HCC) is an Indian Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Project Management companies. It is headquartered in Mumbai. HCC was founded by Industrialist Seth Walchand Hirachand in 1926. HCC has exe ...

, and is widely regarded as an engineering marvel of modern India.

History

Arch Bridge design proposal: rejected

The Anji Khad bridge was initially proposed to be an arch bridge. It was designed as a long steel arches span bridge. Its total length was to be , with a main arch span of , and a deck height of . Quality aspects, construction standards, indigenous materials, and the painting scheme were proposed to be similar to the Chenab Bridge. Later, a committee headed by a former railway board chairman recommended that the location was not suitable for an arch bridge. In particular, the unstable geology of the Himalayan mountains combined with the steepness of the sides of the gorge made an arch bridge impractical.

Cable-stayed bridge design proposal: accepted

In October 2016,

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

decided to build a cable-stayed bridge at Anji Khad. The completed bridge will connect tunnels T2 and T3 on the Katra and Reasi sides respectively. It has a 290 meter main span at a height of 196 meters. The length of bridge’s main section is 473.25 meters out of a total length of over 1,300 meters, with a 120 meter long viaduct. The bridge is asymmetrical, supported by 96 cables anchored to a single pylon on the Reasi side. The initial cost of the project was set at ₹458

crore A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...

Design

The basic design proposed by a foreign firm is used. The head of the construction of

Northern Railways The Northern Railway (NR) is one of the 19 Railway zones of India and the northernmost zone of the Indian Railways. It is headquartered at Baroda House in New Delhi. History Officially notified as a new railway zone on 14 April 1952, ...

has informed that the detailed design is being worked out.

Status updates

* January 2017: HCC to construct cable-stayed Anji Khad Bridge. The work is planned to be completed in 36 months. * March 2021: Bridge design entails a single pylon, the construction of this pylon has been completed. * January 2022: It is now proposed that the bridge will be completed within a year, i.e. by December 2022. * April 2023: All 96 cables have been attached, and the bridge stands nearly completed with associated track laying and fine tuning work to be completed in the following few months to conclude the project.

References