The world’s tallest railway bridge is bigger than the Shard and cost £122m to build | World | News
The Chenab Railway Bridge is 114ft taller than the Eiffel Tower (Image: Getty)
India has opened the Chenab Rail Bridge, the highest railway bridge in the world, spanning the deep gorge of the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir. Towering 1,178 ft above the riverbed, the bridge is taller than London‘s Shard skyscraper and the iconic Eiffel Tower.
This impressive arch bridge, which opened in June 2025, represents a monumental engineering achievement spanning 4,314 ft and was constructed using over 28,000 tonnes of steel.
The bridge has been built to last 120 years and can handle trains travelling at up to 62 mph. It took roughly 20 years to build, from its project approval in the early 2000s to its inauguration in 2025.
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The bridge spans 4,314 feet across the river gorge (Image: Getty)
The bridge was constructed at a cost of ₹14.86 billion (£122.4 m) (Image: Getty)
Supervised by the Konkan Railway Corporation on behalf of Indian Railways, the Chenab Bridge was designed by WSP Finland, with arch designs from Leonhardt, Andrä und Partner, and support from the Vienna Consulting Engineers.
Specialised features include blast-resistant foundations, high-strength steel arches, and a durable, corrosion-resistant paint system designed to last 15 years.
The bridge is engineered to withstand earthquakes up to magnitude 8, extreme winds, and temperatures as low as −20C.
The bridge itself faced exceptional challenges. Positioned in a seismically active zone with fractured terrain, and in a region prone to harsh weather and geopolitical tensions, its construction required careful planning, innovative engineering, and advanced materials.
The bridge lies just 39 miles from the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border with Pakistan.
The bridge was inaugurated on June 6 2025 (Image: Getty)
The project, costing approximately ₹14.86 billion (£122 million), forms a crucial part of the Udhampur–Srinagar–Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL)—a 169‑mile all-weather railway connecting the Kashmir Valley to the rest of India by rail for the very first time.
The bridge’s arch was completed by April 2021, and the entire bridge was finished in August 2022. Trial runs began in June 2024, and regular rail traffic officially started on 6 June 2025, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
After inaugurating the Chenab Rail Bridge, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared a post on X (formerly Twitter) highlighting the achievement. He wrote: “The Tricolour flies high over the Chenab Rail Bridge!
“It’s a feeling of immense pride that this bridge seamlessly blends ambition with execution, reflecting India’s growing capability to build futuristic infrastructure in the most challenging terrains.”
