Major milestone on USBRL project: Phase 1 of deck slab casting on Anji Khad bridge done

A major milestone was achieved on the under construction Anji Khad cable-stayed bridge on Katra-Banihal section of USBRL project on 27th March, 2022, when the phase-I of the Deck slab casting 196.25 m in length was accomplished. Ashutosh Gangal, General Manager Northern Railway informed that work on the remaining 111 km section of the 272 km long Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link project which will connect Jammu to Kashmir by a broad-gauge rail line is ongoing at a fast pace. The section has many construction marvels. One of them is the Indian Railway’s first cable-stayed bridge, the ‘Anji bridge’. It is being built across a deep gorge, the Anji Khad.

The Bridge south-east of the Iconic Chenab Bridge is situated between tunnel T-2 and T-3 and will connect the temple town of Katra to the district headquarter Reasi by rail. The Anji Khad Bridge is an asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge balanced on the axis of a single central pylon. The pylon is 193 m in height from the top of the foundation. The bridge stands at a height of 331 m above the river bed. The total length of the Bridge is 726 m while the Main Bridge portion has a length of 473.25 m. The Bridge will be supported by 96 cables having varying length from 82 m to 295 m.

The construction work of the pylon has been completed and the construction of the deck is underway. The deck is a 15m wide composite steel girder having a depth of 10 m. The deck casting in phase-1, 196.25m in length involved 370 MT of reinforced steel and continuous pouring of 900 cubic meter concrete. This activity was critical as the next phases of segmental deck laying and supporting the structure by cables will follow after this.