NEW DELHI: As PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the world’s highest railway bridge over the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, the spotlight was on the engineering feat. Behind the scenes, a Bengaluru-based academic played a quiet yet critical role in shaping this marvel.Dr G Madhavi Latha, a professor at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), has spent the past 17 years working as a geotechnical consultant on the Chenab Bridge project — which is part of the ambitious 272 km Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Link (USBRL).
The bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower by 35 metres and costing Rs 1,486 crore, was described by the government as the “biggest civil-engineering challenge faced by any railway project in India in recent history”.Who is Madhavi Latha?Latha worked closely with Afcons, the project’s main contractor, to help tackle the region’s complex geological and topographical conditions. Her role included advising on the placement of rock anchors to stabilise slopes and ensuring structural safety throughout construction. The methods and challenges encountered were later chronicled in a paper she authored for the Indian Geotechnical Journal.Currently a HAG professor at IISc, Latha began her academic journey with a B.Tech in Civil Engineering from JNTU in 1992, followed by an M.Tech in Geotechnical Engineering from NIT Warangal, where she earned a gold medal. She completed her PhD at IIT Madras in 2000.She was named Best Woman Geotechnical Researcher by the Indian Geotechnical Society in 2021 and featured in the “Top 75 Women in STEAM” in India in 2022.Her work on the Chenab Bridge, a project first approved in 2003, stands as one of her most enduring and high-impact contributions.The epic journey of building the world’s highest railway bridge in KashmirLong before construction cranes dotted the skyline or steel arches began spanning the Chenab River, the path to building the world’s highest railway bridge began with something far more modest—mules and horses. In the early stages of the project, before any access roads existed, engineers and workers relied on animals to traverse the rugged Himalayan terrain. “Initially, mules and horses were used by the project team to reach the location,” a spokesperson from Afcons Infrastructure, the firm behind the engineering feat, told PTI. Over time, temporary tracks were laid and gradually replaced by permanent access roads—11km on the north bank and 12km on the south—to pave the way for machinery and material. On Friday, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi walked across the newly completed Chenab Bridge waving the national flag, it was more than just a ceremonial inauguration. It marked the realisation of a decades-long engineering ambition to link Kashmir with the rest of the country by rail.Today, the Chenab Bridge stands 359 metres above the riverbed, towering 35 metres higher than the Eiffel Tower.
