Railway Bridges Famous
Railway Bridges Famous
Overview
Indian Railways owns & maintains more than 1,50,000 bridges—about 37,000 are major spans. Among them, a select few are engineering icons, world-record holders or vital strategic links frequently asked in RRB NTPC, Group-D, ALP & JE papers. This capsule covers only those “famous” railway bridges that have repeatedly appeared in previous-shift GK sections.
Key Facts & Figures
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Longest rail bridge in India (total length) | Vembanad Rail Bridge (Kerala) – 4.62 km |
| Longest river bridge on Indian Railways | Bogibeel Bridge (Assam) – 4.94 km |
| Highest rail bridge in India (deck height) | Chenab Bridge (J&K) – 359 m above river bed |
| Deepest bridge foundations in India | Pamban Bridge (Tamil Nadu) – 120 m below sea level |
| First sea-bridge of Indian Railways | Pamban Bridge (1914) |
| First rail-cum-road bridge on Ganga | Rajendra Setu (Bihar) – opened 1959 |
| Longest rail-cum-road bridge in India | Bogibeel Bridge (2018) |
| First prestressed concrete (PSC) railway bridge | Ajani Bridge, Nagpur (1963) |
| First cable-stayed rail bridge in India | Anji Khad Bridge (J&K) – part of USBRL project |
| Longest steel arch rail bridge in India | Chenab Bridge – 467 m main span |
| Bridge with longest approach girders | Vembanad Bridge – 63 spans of 20 m each |
| UNESCO heritage bridge | Pamban Bridge (part of “Mountain Railways of India” buffer zone) |
| Only lift-span bridge still working | Pamban Bridge – 72.5 m Scherzer rolling lift |
| Design speed on Chenab Bridge | 160 km/h (potential), operational 100 km/h |
| Design life of Chenab Bridge | 120 years (blast-proof, seismic Zone-V) |
Important Points
- Vembanad Bridge connects Edappally–Iddly on Ernakulam–Kottayam route (Southern Railway).
- Bogibeel Bridge is India’s first rail-cum-road bridge with fully welded steel trusses & 39 spans of 125 m each.
- Chenab Bridge is 35 m taller than Eiffel Tower; built with ~29,000 MT of steel.
- Pamban Bridge’s center span opens in 10 min to let ships pass; operated manually till 2021, now semi-automatic.
- Anji Khad Bridge replaced the cancelled Anji tunnel; has 96 cable stays in 2 planes.
- Rajendra Setu (Mokama–Simaria) was India’s 1st bridge across Ganga & ended rail ferry service.
- Vivekananda Setu (Kolkata) carries both rail & road, but only road now; rail shifted to 2nd Vivekananda Setu (2019).
- Nehru Setu (Dehri-on-Sone) was longest rail bridge in India (3.05 km) till 2003.
- Jubilee Bridge (Kolkata–Naihati) is a riveted cantilever truss built 1885; now heritage site.
- Godavari Arch Bridge (Rajahmundry) – 2.75 km PSC arch, replaced old truss bridge in 1997.
- Mahatma Gandhi Setu (Patna) is road only; rail-cum-road bridge parallel to it is Digha–Sonpur Rail Bridge (2020).
- USBRL project has 927 bridges; Chenab & Anji Khad are show-piece structures.
- All famous rail bridges are monitored by “Online Bridge Monitoring System” (OBMS) developed by RDSO.
- Static GK: states, rivers & years of commissioning are favourite RRB questions.
Frequently Asked in Exams
- State–bridge–river matching (e.g., Chenab Bridge – J&K – Chenab River).
- Year of commissioning & length (Bogibeel 2018, 4.94 km).
- Highest/longest bridge tag (Chenab highest, Vembanad longest pure rail).
- Unique technology (Scherzer lift span – Pamban; cable-stayed – Anji Khad).
- Rail-cum-road vs rail-only classification.
BETA
