800-metre-long railway bridge over Chakki River on Punjab-Himachal border collapses.

• The 800-metre-long railway bridge over the Chakki river on the border of Punjab and Himachal in Kangra district collapsed.
• The flash flood in the Chakki washed away the weakened pillar of the bridge.
• With this, the narrow-gauge train service between Pathankot and Jogindernagar will remain suspended till a new pillar of the bridge is constructed.
• The 90-year-old railway bridge was weakened following illegal mining in the riverbed.
• The railway authorities had repeatedly complained regarding the damage being caused to the bridge due to illegal mining.

History

• The idea for Kangra Valley Railway was conceptualised during 1926 and commissioned in 1929.
• When it was started, this line was used mainly for transporting freight during the Second World War.
• It started carrying people from 1929 onwards. During this war, the rail services were disturbed because of some problem in the rail lines.
• However, renovation work was carried out in the tracks and it was open again to the public after about a dozen years.
• Again during 1973, the service got realigned to a slight extent as the Pong Dam was established and hence, rail lines were again cut off for three years.
• The three sections of this railway line are divided into the stretches of 12 km, 130 km and 22 km respectively.
• The first runs between Pathankot and Chakki Bridge, the second section runs between Chakki Bridge and Baijnath Paprola (pilgrimage route) and the third section runs between Baijnath Paprola and Joginder Nagar station.