• In Jammu and Kashmir, the world’s highest rail bridge over the Chenab River in the Kouri area of Reasi district achieved another milestone when the overarch deck of the bridge was completed with a golden joint.
• The golden joint shall now pave the way for engineers to lay tracks on the bridge. With tracks over it, Kashmir will be linked with the rest of India via rail network for the first time since Independence.
• According to the chief administrative officer of the USBRL Konkan Railways said, to achieve this feat, we had sought technical expertise from IIT-Roorkee, IIT-Delhi, Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, DRDO, national remote sensing agency, GSI and other agencies.
• This is the highest railway arch in the world. The bridge is 35 meters higher than Eiffel Tower.
• Afcons is building 16 additional railway bridges for Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) in the dangerous terrain of Jammu and Kashmir in addition to the Chenab Bridge.
• The bridge comprises 93 deck segments, each weighing around 85 tonnes, launched simultaneously from both ends of the valley over the massive steel arch and work on joining five segments in full progress on the single line linking Katra (Jammu) with Qazigund (Kashmir), some 75 km away.
• The project is part of the ambitious 272-km long railway line from Udhampur to Baramulla joining Jammu with the Kashmir valley as an all-weather highspeed alternative, named the ‘Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project'(USBRL).

What is the term ‘golden joint’?

• The term ‘golden joint’ was coined by civil engineers.  This joint is aptly named the Golden Joint. Launching of the 785 m deck over the Chenab arch bridge was carried out by joining prefabricated portions and then launching them from both ends.
• The golden joint is the last joint of the bridge deck, which connects both sides of the deck at the arch, to make it into a continuous structure. After aligning the two sections of the bridge in place, it will be fastened by means of HSFG (High Strength Friction Grip) bolts.