Jiribam-Imphal railway line: Tallest railway bridge at Manipur to be completed by 2020

In what can be termed as an ambitious and dream project, the railway line between Jiribam-Imphal in Manipur, which connects the Imphal with the broad gauge network of the country, will be completed by 2020. This important announcement was made the project Chief Engineer Sai Baba Ankala at Visakhapatnam on Monday at GITAM Deemed to be University.

According to Akala it would bolster trade relations with the ASEAN countries and also come handy in military operations and help tourism development.

He announces this while delivering a lecture on ‘Challenges in Design and Construction of the World’s Tallest Bridge’, organised by the Institution of Engineers (India), GITAM Student Chapter, at the Civil Engineering department of the GITAM at Visakhapatnam on Monday.

Jiribam-Imphal railway project:

Rs. 13,809 cr project to bring Imphal in the railway map of India. It is a massive project involving multiple agencies and help strengthen ASEAN ties, help defence support and also boost tourism.

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At the time of addressing the students, he said that the project was adopted in 2008 and was declared as National Project with a cost of Rs 13,809 crore. He further apprised that three IITs (Kanpur, Roorkee and Guwahati) are also associated with this ambitious Indian Railways project by means of technical support and proof-checking of designs to build the bridge cost-efficient and maintainable.

The chief engineer further briefed that the 111-km-long Jiribam-Imphal railway line passed through steep rolling hills of the Patkai region and had to traverse through a number of deep gorges and over several rivers flowing at low ground levels. He said it is imperative to construct 52 tunnels and 149 bridges, crossing 10 stations to sustain a suitable gradient for efficient operation of railway services.

He underlined that within the framework of the railway project a special bridge (bridge no.164) with pillars rising to 141 metres is being constructed which is the tallest in the world from the point of view of pillar height.

The Jiribam-Imphal bridge was situated in seismic zone-v and in view of this all precautions, particularly a site-specific design spectrum, had been developed to ensure long-term stability of the bridge. For safety measure, the works are under surveillance of drone cameras, CCTVs, and remote monitoring.

He also mentioned the threat posed by militant outfits operating in the area and despite their presence the bridge is being built.

He moreover said that the government of India is dealing with this project strategically to strengthen the trade with ASEAN countries and helpful to military operations and tourism development. He advised the students that bridge engineering is a thought-provoking subject if thoroughly understand the related aspects. He also invited the civil engineering students to participate in the ongoing project for their project report.

GITAM Institute of Technology Principal Prof K Lakshmiprasad, APSRTC Executive Director Dr Ansari, Civil Engineering department in-charge head Prof M Ramesh and Institute of Engineers (I) GITAM Student Chapter Faculty Advisor Dr PC Kumar were also present at the program.