Anji Khad, Indias first cable-stayed bridge crucial connector for the passage of a train between Jammu and Kashmir will be ready in May this year

The Anji Khad bridge's delayed construction, which has been in the works for twenty years and is a critical link for a train's transit between Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), is a significant hole in the Indian Railways' ambitious goal to seamlessly connect Kashmir to the rest of India.

Despite all obstacles, a senior Railway official stated that "all 96 cables have been fully installed as of April 26 in a record time period of eleven months between June 2022 and April 2023."

A total of 96 cables—48 cables each on the lateral and central spans—are used in the design of the Anji bridge. The official stated that the entire weight of the cables was 848.7 metric tonnes, with a total length of the cable strands involved of 653 kilometres.

Out of a total of 47 segments, 44 have been launched to date and need stay cables for support. As per the plan, the remaining three parts will now be released without stay cables.

The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Line project's tunnel T2 on the Katra side and tunnel T3 on Reasi in Jammu & Kashmir are connected by the bridge.

The bridge's entire length is 725 metres, including a 473-meter asymmetric cable-stayed span that is balanced on the axis of a central pylon at a height of 193 metres above the top of the foundation and rises 331 metres (almost 77 stories) above the riverbed.

The north (Katra side) and south (Reasi side) spans of the cable-stayed bridge are 290 metres and 183 metres, respectively. The bridge contains a 3.75 metre wide service road and a single-line railway track. After the bridge is finished, a single broad gauge track will be available for trains running along the 326 km railway line connecting Jammu to Baramulla via Srinagar.

The Northern Railways hired Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) and Hindustan Construction Company to carry out the project.