The highest railway bridge in the world towers over the Eiffel Tower

India is a land of extremes. With almost 3.3 million square kilometers, it is about nine times the size of Germany. More than 1.4 billion people live there, and Kangchenjunga, the third-highest mountain in the world, is located in the Indian part of the Himalayas.

Now India has added a superlative: the world's highest railway bridge has opened, and the first trains have already crossed the Chenab River at dizzying heights.

The numbers are impressive: At 359 meters high, the newly constructed Chenab Bridge in India is the highest railway bridge in the world. This structure towers 29 meters above the Eiffel Tower. 28,000 tons of steel were used in this "engineering marvel," as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls it.

The bridge's arch has a span of 467 meters. The bridge's foundation is the size of half a football field, ensuring the stability of the 1,315-meter-long structure spanning the Kashmir Valley.

The Chenab Bridge will allow trains to cross the valley at a height of more than 350 metres above the Chenab River.

Source: imago images/Pacific Press Agency

Construction of the bridge officially began in August 2004, more than two decades after its opening. According to a press release , Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Indian Minister of Railways, stated that the bridge would also be accessible to tourists upon its opening. Furthermore, the minister explained that the bridge was designed to withstand earthquakes measuring up to 8 on the Richter scale.

The fastest train to Kashmir is the "Vande Bharat." It uses the new Chenab Bridge.

Source: IMAGO/Middle East Images

Kashmir is located in the Himalayas. Although India claims the entire region for itself, it controls only half of it. The north and west are claimed by Pakistan, and the east is controlled by China.

Violence continues to occur. At the end of April, armed attackers in the Indian part of Kashmir killed 26 people – mostly Indian tourists – on a mountain meadow in a resort area near the town of Pahalgam . The government in New Delhi accuses Pakistan of involvement in the terrorist attack, but the neighboring country denies this.

According to CNN, the completion of the Chenab Bridge is therefore seen as an important signal from Indian Prime Minister Modi to the local population. Now that the full railway line can be built, Kashmir will be connected to the rest of India, and an economic boom is expected. Previously, the region was only accessible via a winding, 300-kilometer road, which frequently had to be closed during the winter.

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