The Construction of the world’s tallest railway bridge with the highest pillar height of 141 metres has begun near Noney in Manipur, the Northeast Frontier Railway Construction Organisation said in a release here on Monday.
The bridge, which spans over a gorge with an overall length of about 700 metres, is part of the 111-km long Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal broad gauge railway line under construction. It will connect Manipur’s Capital Imphal with the country’s railway network.
“This bridge is slated to become the tallest in the world on pillar height surpassing the existing Mala-Rijeka viaduct on Belgrade-Bar railway line in Europe where the height of pillars is 139 metres,” stated D.C. Borah, the senior Public Relations Officer, Construction, N.F. Railway.
“The railway bridge under construction on river Chenab in Jammu-Kashmir line is of arch type which is bridging a gorge of about 360-metre deep from bed of river to the rail level and is considered the highest railway bridge in the World,” he added.
The first phase of the project from Jiribam to Tupul (84 kms), which includes this bridge, is slated for completion by March 2016. Jiribam with an altitude of 37 metres above mean sea level is located near Assam-Manipur border, while altitude of Imphal is 780 meters above mean sea level. Between Jiribam-Tupul the railway line will have the longest tunnel of 4.9 Km long and between Tupul-Imphal section it will have the longest tunnel of 10.75 Km. There will be 46 tunnels covering total 54.5 km length of the railway line.
