Northeast Frontier Railway is constructing the world's tallest bridge pier in Manipur which is a part of 111 km Jiribam-Imphal railway project. The bridge is being constructed at a pier height of 141 metre (equivalent to a 34-storey building), breaking the existing record of 139 metre Mala-Rijeka viaduct, at Montenegro in Europe. The bridge will be almost twice as high as Qutub Minar.
The bridge is located at the hilly terrain of Marangching village in Noney district, about 65 km west of Imphal. The total estimated cost of the railway bridge is Rs 280 crore, while the scheduled target to complete the project is March 2022.
The total length of the bridge will be 703 metres. The piers of the bridge are constructed using hydraulic augers. The tall piers needed specially designed 'slip-form technique' to ensure efficient and continual construction, according to Northeast Frontier Railway officials. The bridge is designed to carry almost 25 tonne axle-load freight trains.
Launching of all girders on 555 m long & 100 m tall bridge over Makru river in Manipur successfully done
Panoramic view of this bridge on 110kms, Jiribum-Imphal new line project connecting this beautiful land to Railway network to boost socio-economic development of the region pic.twitter.com/rLSqat3npy
- Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) April 29, 2020
As per the officials, the steel girders were pre-fabricated at a workshop in Kolkata, transported in segments and erected at the site by cantilever launching that required meticulous planning and execution.
The bridge, which is part of a new broad gauge line being constructed to connect the northeastern state with the rest of the country, is one of the 148 bridges along the route. There are a total of 45 tunnels in the project, while the longest is Tunnel No. 12 with a length of 10.280 km. This is likely to be the longest railway tunnel in the North East.