Context: The Prime Minister has lauded the completion of Arch closure of the Chenab Bridge, World’s highest Railway Bridge in Jammu & Kashmir by Indian Railways
- It connects Kashmir with the rest of India through a rail line. The 1.315 km long “engineering marvel” will link Bakkal in Katra and Kauri in Srinagar.
- The Chenab bridge forms an important link in the 111 km long stretch between Katra and Banihal, which is a part of Indian Railways’ Udhampur- Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project.
- Once the development work of the bridge is completed, it will surpass the record of China’s Beipan river Shuibai railway bridge (275 m).
- The project was declared as a national project in the year 2002.
Chenab River
- The Chenab is formed by the confluence of two streams, Chandra and Bhaga, in the western (Punjab) Himalayas in India’s Himachal Pradesh state.
- It flows west through Jammu and Kashmir union territory—between the steep cliffs of the Siwalik Range (south) and the Lesser Himalayas (north).
- After receiving the Jhelum and the Ravi rivers, the Chenab empties into the Sutlej River, a tributary of the Indus River.
- Its total length is about 605 miles (974 km), and it feeds several irrigation canals.