Up in the Himalayas, Indian engineers have restarted work on the world's highest railway bridge. When completed in 2016, the arch-shaped steel structure will be 359 metres (1,177 feet) high - 35 metres (115 feet) taller than the Eiffel Tower!
The bridge is part of the Jammu Udhampur Srinagar Baramulla Railway Link, a railway line being built to connect the states of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of the country. When completed, the route will shorten the travel time from Baramulla to Jammu to six-and-a-half hours, almost half the time it currently takes.
The estimated cost of the project, which is being handled by Konkan Railway Corporation, a subsidiary of state-owned Indian Railways, is $92 million.
The 1,315-meter long bridge will use up to 25,000 tonnes of steel with some material being transported by helicopters due to the tough terrain.
(Score: 1) by laserfusion on Thursday July 17 2014, @11:55AM
Not very fast, six-and-a-half hours is a long wait. They are not pushing the boundaries of the tech here.
(Score: 1) by Buck Feta on Thursday July 17 2014, @12:14PM
At least they have a train.
- fractious political commentary goes here -
(Score: 4, Insightful) by zafiro17 on Thursday July 17 2014, @01:14PM
On the contrary, kudos for the engineers for emphasizing (I hope?) safety and reliability over speed/flash. Waiting for a train is nothing in places like India. And the difference between waiting for a train and having nothing to wait for is a distinction most people should be able to understand immediately.
I wonder how much of this is political (infrastructure helps remote regions to identify themselves more immediately with a far-away national authority), how much is military (easier troop transport to distant and somewhat restive regions), how much is a cushy government contracting opportunity, and how much is just a useful engineering project that can be taken at face value.
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(Score: 2, Insightful) by panachocala on Thursday July 17 2014, @01:47PM
$92 million wouldn't cover the CEO bonuses in the US let alone the actual building costs. Presumably this is underestimated and will balloon with project delays. Still, seems a bargain.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday July 18 2014, @07:48PM
CEOs in the entire rest of the world don't make money anything like US CEOs, so stuff is a lot cheaper to get done elsewhere, even in advanced countries like Germany.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 17 2014, @01:35PM
How fast is the typical american long-distance passenger train?
(Score: 2) by rts008 on Thursday July 17 2014, @02:39PM
Does the US even have passenger trains nowadays?
I heard they were all scrapped to make more SUV's years ago. ;-)
To be honest, the only time I have seen a passenger train in the US was in 1977. I had enlisted in the US Army, was 'inducted' in Baltimore, Maryland. The US Army put a bunch of us on the AMTRAK(sp?) in Baltimore, and sent us to St. Louis, Missouri. (it was a pleasant trip, BTW)
That is the one and only time I have even SEEN a passenger train in the US. They must not be too numerous, IMO.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 17 2014, @05:11PM
There are lots of passenger lines on the east coast. Nothing compared to the number of freight lines, but they still move about 85,000 passengers per day.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday July 18 2014, @07:23PM
While not everywhere, there are Nationwide routes [amtrak.com] operated by Amtrak.
Since Amtrak also has contracts to handle daily commuter trains in many markets so the actual number of routes/departures that they have is huge.
If you have the time, its an enjoyable way to travel. I've done two cross-country trips, with private rooms, and also local(ish) day trips. The fastest routes are over 100mph, the fastest I clocked with my phone's gps wa 85. Ridership is actually increasing.
I've ridden the commuter trains from Seattle to Portland. Very efficient, and pleasant.
The cross country line are not your typical high speed japanese or german train. But I met a group of folks from Belgium who were comparing the trip favorably with long distance trains in the EU, and they were not shocked by the price either.
(You WILL meet folks on the long distance trains, because they have a practice of seating you with total strangers in the dining cars, and at the nightly wine/cheese tasting, but you are only strangers for the first 5 minutes. Eastbound I remember dinners with the Belgium ladies, Blackfeet Tribal council members from Montana, an mid level executive of Ford, college kids, roughnecks (oil well drillers), geezers (like me) from Alabama. The food was surprisingly good).
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 17 2014, @05:00PM
> Not very fast, six-and-a-half hours is a long wait.
> They are not pushing the boundaries of the tech here.
They can't go too fast because in India the cheapest seats are on top of the train.
As demonstrated in this famous bollywood movie clip [youtube.com] which was shot with no CGI or other special effects other than dubbed voices.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday July 18 2014, @07:44PM
It's slow because there's 30 stations on the route as you quoted here. This is the problem with trains (as well as buses and other public-transit systems): the more stops you put in, the longer trips take because each stop carries a large overhead in time. Maybe they'll have a few express trains to speed things up for some routes later.
It's the same reason Greyhound buses take several days to get anywhere: they take a meandering route and stop at several dozen little podunk towns, instead of just getting on the interstate and going 75 nonstop.
In this case, it's apparently a big improvement just because they don't have to go down into a valley and back out again.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by cubancigar11 on Thursday July 17 2014, @03:31PM
I am surprised by the new government. While I voted against it due to its being super right-wing, I am happy that Modi seems to be working on his promises.
The new railway will connect J&K with rest of the India which is incredibly important to make the people of J&K feel that India really considers them a part of country and not an occupation as Pak propaganda would have them believe. On the other hand I am a little worried about its long term feasibility in such a terrorism-prone area.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by acid andy on Thursday July 17 2014, @04:49PM
So when they say "highest", do they mean "tallest", as in the length from its foundations to its top, or do they mean "highest" as in its height above sea level?
I can see how being in the Himalayas it would easily have a much greater height above sea level than the Eiffel Tower. Perhaps it actually breaks both records.
Judging by the measurements given, I'm fairly sure they mean "tallest", but the article isn't really very clear at all.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 18 2014, @08:52PM
There's a short animation movie showing the techniques used to build the bridge : http://youtu.be/JJvN9bVW-fk [youtu.be]