# Vande Bharat train runs on world’s highest railway bridge 2026-08-19T12:39:32+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Northern Railway has released a video of the Vande Bharat Express running at full speed on the Chenab Rail Bridge, the world's highest railway arch bridge. The bridge stands 359 metres above the Chenab River, making it taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris, which is 324 metres high. The railway called the bridge 'India's pride' in the video's caption. The 1,315-metre-long Chenab Rail Bridge is part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project. It was designed to withstand earthquakes, high winds and explosions. The bridge used about 25,000 tonnes of steel in its construction. The final successful test on this track was conducted in January 2025, and the Srinagar-Katra Vande Bharat service began later. In April 2026, it was extended to Jammu Tawi. As of now, 162 Vande Bharat trains operate across India, carrying over 9.1 crore passengers since the service launched in 2019. ## Indian Opinion Analysis The Chenab Rail Bridge completes a decades-old dream of linking the Kashmir Valley by rail to the rest of India. The USBRL project, first conceived in the 1990s, faced repeated delays due to difficult terrain and security concerns. Now operational, it cuts travel time between Srinagar and Jammu dramatically. The next milestone to watch is the full commissioning of the remaining section to bring the line all the way to Delhi, which would make passenger and freight movement year-round independent of the highway. ## Coverage - aajtak.in Presents the bridge and Vande Bharat as 'India's pride' with no critical perspective or mention of delays or costs. This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: Chenab Rail Bridge, Indian Railways, Northern Railway, USBRL, Vande Bharat Express Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/vande-bharat-train-runs-on-worlds-highest-railway-bridge/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/vande-bharat-train-runs-on-worlds-highest-railway-bridge/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/