Chenab Rail Bridge

The Chenab Rail Bridge clears the river beneath it by 359 metres, which makes its deck higher above the water than the Eiffel Tower is tall. It carries a single line across a gorge in the Himalayan foothills of Jammu and Kashmir, and it’s the piece that finally let trains reach the Kashmir Valley. Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened it to rail traffic on June 6, 2025, after nearly two decades of stop-start work.

Project Scope

The bridge runs 1,315 metres across 17 spans, anchored by a steel deck arch whose main span stretches 467 metres. The structure splits into a 530-metre approach viaduct and a 785-metre arch bridge, carried on steel piers that reach 133.7 metres at their tallest. Afcons Infrastructure led construction as part of a joint venture with VSL India and South Korea’s Ultra Construction, under Konkan Railway Corporation, with design and proof-checking handled by WSP Finland and Leonhardt, Andra und Partner.

The engineering brief was brutal. The bridge is built to a 120-year design life and rated to take earthquakes up to magnitude 8, blast loads equal to about 40 tonnes of TNT, and wind speeds up to 266 km/h. It forms the centrepiece of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link.

Why It Matters

For most of its history, the Kashmir Valley had no all-weather rail connection to the rest of India. The Chenab bridge closes that gap, and it does so over terrain that defeated bridge builders for years. The combination of a record arch span, extreme seismic and blast criteria, and near-vertical access roads makes it a benchmark for mountain rail engineering anywhere. For another record-setting span on Exchange, see the Danjiang Bridge.

Project Team & Details