PM opens world's highest railway bridge in Kashmir

Residents of Katra expressed happiness as Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated one of the most ambitious railway projects (Chenab Railway Bridge) ever built in India, which will connect the Kashmir Valley to the vast Indian plains by train for the first time.

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The Chenab Railway Bridge, the world's highest railway bridge, marks a historic milestone in India's infrastructure journey.

Dubbed by government-operated Indian Railways as one of the most challenging tracks in the world, the 272-kilometre line begins in the garrison city of Udhampur in Jammu region and runs through Jammu and Kashmir's main city of Srinagar. The line ends in Baramulla, a town near the highly militarised Line of Control.

The line travels through 36 tunnels and over 943 bridges. The Indian government pegged the total project cost at around $5 billion.

One of the project's highlights is a 1,315-metre-long (4,314-foot) steel and concrete bridge above the Chenab River connecting two mountains with an arch 359 metres (1,177 feet) above the water. Indian Railways compared the height to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, which stands 330 metres (1,082 feet), and said the bridge is built to last 120 years and endure extreme weather, including wind speeds up to 260kph (161 mph).