One of the striking features of the Chenab bridge in Jammu and Kashmir, reportedly the highest arch-railway bridge in the world, is that the structure would stand even if one of the eight supporting piers is taken way, and still be strong enough to keep the train on it moving, albeit at a slower speed. The credit for conceptualising the design that allows this stability goes to G. Madhavi Lata, Professor of Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.
For nearly two decades, she has been a consultant for AFCONS Infrastructure, the engineering firm that had executed the construction of the bridge. Standing 359 metres above the river Chenab, it is as high as four Qutb Minars stacked on top of each other.
