Today News Diary on 5 April 2021

1. Railways complete the Arch closure of the iconic Chenab Bridge, World's highest Railway Bridge

2. Sports Ministry gives go-ahead to open up 75 Khelo India Centres across Uttar Pradesh

3. NRAI announces Team for Tokyo Olympics

1. Railways complete the Arch closure of the iconic Chenab Bridge, World's highest Railway Bridge

Indian Railways today completed the Arch closure of the iconic Chenab Bridge.
Chenab Bridge, the world's highest railway bridge, part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project (USBRL), set an important construction milestone today with completion of the steel arch of the iconic Chenab Bridge.

This was one of the most difficult part of the bridge over Chenab. This achievement is a major leap towards the completion of the 111 k.m. long winding stretch from Katra to Banihal. It is arguably the biggest civil-engineering challenge faced by any railway project in India in recent history. The 5.6-metre last piece of metal was fitted at the highest point today and joined the two arms of the arch that currently stretch towards each other from both the banks of the river.

This completed the shape of the arch that will then loom over the treacherous Chenab, flowing some 359 metres below. After completion of the arch work, removal of the stay cables, filling of the concrete in the arch rib, erection of the steel trestle, launching of the viaduct and track laying work will be taken up.

The completion of the historic Arch work was also seen by Piyush Goyal Minister for Railways, Commerce & Industry and Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Shri Suneet Sharma, Chairman & CEO, Railway Board, Shri Ashutosh Gangal, General Manager Northern Railway through video conferencing.

Salient Features of the Arch of the iconic Chenab Bridge:

Indian Railways is constructing the iconic Arch Bridge on River Chenab as a part of the USBRL project to connect the Kashmir valley to the rest of the nation.

This bridge is 1315m long.

This is the highest Railway Bridge in the world being 359m above the river bed level.

It will be 35 meters higher than the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris (France).

Construction of Bridge involved fabrication of 28,660 MT steel, 10 Lakh Cum Earthwork, 66,000 Cum Concrete and 26 Km motorable roads.

Arch consists of steel boxes. Concrete will be filled in boxes of the Arch to improve stability.

Overall weight of Arch is 10,619 MT.

Erection of the members of arch by overhead cable cranes done for first time on Indian Railways.

The most sophisticated ‘Tekla’ software used for structural detailing.

Structural steel suitable for -10°C to 40°C temperature.

Certain features are tabulated below:

1. Client: Northern Railway

2. Executing Agency: M/s Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd.

3. Cost of Bridge: 1486 Cr.

4. Contractor: M/s Chenab Bridge Project Undertaking

5. Total length of bridge: 1.315km

6. Number of spans: 17 nos.

7. Length of Main arch span: 467m (linear); 550m (curvilinear)

8. Design life of the bridge: 120 years

9. Design speed: 100 kmph

10. Total Steel Fabrication: 28660 MT (approx)

11. Design wind speed: 266 kmph

12. Designers:

A. Viaduct & Foundations: M/s WSP (Finland)

B. Arch: M/s Leonhart, Andra and Partners (Germany)

C. Foundation Protection: Indian Institute of Science Bangalore

13. Proof Consultant:

A. Foundation & Foundation Protection: M/s URS, UK

B. Superstructure of Viaduct & Arch: M/s COWI, UK

14. Slope Stability Analysis: (Independent Consultant) M/s ITASCA, USA

15. Slope Stability Analysis: Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

16. Seismic Analysis: Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi & Roorkee

Unique Features of This Bridge:

Bridge designed to withstand high wind speed up to 266 Km/Hour.

Bridge designed for blast load in consultation with DRDO for the first time in India.

Bridge will remain operational at restricted speed of 30 Km/Hour even after removal of one pier/trestle.

Bridge designed to bear earthquake forces of highest intensity zone-V in India.

First time on Indian Railways, Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing machine used for testing of welds.

First time on Indian Railways, NABL accredited lab established at site for weld testing.

Approx. 584Km welding done to join the different parts of structure, which is to the tune of distance between Jammu Tawi to New Delhi.

Height of cable crane’s pylon at Srinagar End is 127m, which is much taller than Qutub Minar of 72m.

Launching of curved viaduct portion done for first time on Indian Railways using End Launching Method.

Extensive health monitoring and warning systems planned through state of art instrumentation.

Details about ceremony of Arch Closure:

Before closure and during launching, arch is being supported by stay cables.

Closure includes the erection of last 8 segments (4 no. upstream and 4 no. downstream) of Arch.

The process of arch closure started on 20 February, 2021. Before ceremony for closure of arch, 07 segments were erected in advance.

At the time of closure of arch, segment no. WT28 was erected. This segment is at kauri end (west end) of the crown.

Name: WT28 (upstream side top chord segment)

Size: 5.6 m x 4.0 m x 0.98 m ( L x B x H ); Weight =18.95 MT

After the closure of the Arch, the other activities such as removal of stay cables, filling of concrete arch with self-compacting concrete, erection of trestles, launching of deck over main arch by incremental launching will be undertaken.

2. Sports Ministry gives go-ahead to open up 75 Khelo India Centres across Uttar Pradesh

The Sports Ministry has dedicated a total of 75 Khelo India Centres (KICs) to the State of Uttar Pradesh across 75 districts.

These centres will be entrusted with one sports discipline each as per the proposal of the UP State Government. It was also decided that the sports disciplines recognized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports shall be eligible for Khelo India Centres.

A one-time initial grant of Rs 5 Lakh each will be provided for the preparation and upgradation of sports fields, purchase of sports equipment, sports kits, and so on. The annual recurring grant for every centre is also Rs 5 Lakh each for a period of four years, which can be extended further for remuneration of the past champion athlete as coach, support staff, purchase of equipments, sports kits, consumables, participation in competition and events.

The disciplines include: Table Tennis, Athletics, Judo, Hockey, Badminton, Lawn Tennis, Wrestling, Football, Swimming, Boxing, Archery, Shooting, Weightlifting and Kabaddi (indigenous sport).

The UP Government will now have to hire past Champion Athletes for all these centres. As a part of Government’s vision to strengthen the sports ecosystem in the country at the grassroots level, a low-cost, effective sports training mechanism has been worked out wherein past “Champion Athletes” would become coaches and mentors for youngsters, running sports training in an autonomous manner, and earning their livelihood.

1,000 new KICs are planned to be opened over the period of 4 years, with at least one KIC in each district of the country.

3. NRAI announces Team for Tokyo Olympics

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), the governing body of the Olympic sport of Shooting in the country, today announced a 15-member Indian contingent for the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympics in July.

The Selection Committee after a meeting on Sunday afternoon which lasted over five hours, also announced a set of 14 reserve shooters for each of the eligible events, particularly with an eye on the raging Covid-19 pandemic, as had been suggested last month by the NRAI President, Mr Raninder Singh. Reigning world number one in Women’s 10M Air Rifle Elavenil Valarivan, was the only athlete to have been picked in the team, who had not won, one of the 15-quotas won by the National Team. She would avail of the quota won by Anjum Moudgil in the event.

It was also decided by the National Selection Committee that the quota won by Chinki Yadav in the Women’s 25M Pistol would be swapped in favour of Anjum Moudgil, to enable her to compete in the Women’s 50M Rifle 3 Positions event as India’s second entry alongside former World Champion Tejaswini Sawant.The quota won for the nation can only be swapped within the same gender.

Manu Bhaker, whose overall performances in the Women’s 25M Pistol had been better, the Committee felt, would take advantage of the double-start rule and compete in both the Women’s 10M Air Pistol and the 25M Pistol individual events. Anjum would also compete in the Mixed Air Rifle Team competition alongside Deepak Kumar as India’s second team in the event. Elavenil and Divyansh would form the first pairing. Apurvi Chandela, therefore, competes only in the Women’s 10M Air Rifle individual competition.

Commenting on the team, Mr. Singh said, “The National Selection Committee’s main focus was to select the strongest squad for the Games and to ensure that the most consistent performers in each event, during the course of this entire Olympic cycle, do not miss out. I believe they have done an excellent job on both those fronts and we are confident that this selection will deliver.” He added, “The selection I believe has been done purely on merit and in keeping with the provisions of NRAI’s Olympic selection ranking policy. This merit based approach has enabled us to field a third specialist shooter in the Women’s 10M Air Rifle events as well as go with the two best shooters in Women’s 25M Pistol event.”

The official Team list along with the Reserve squad is attached with this communication. A meeting of the Selection Committee of NRAI was held at 1 PM on 4th April 2021, at A-8, Nizamuddin East, New Delhi. The following members were present during the meeting:

1. Shri Raninder Singh, President NRAI

2. Shri D.V. Seetharama Rao, Secretary General NRAI (attended through Zoom App)

3. Shri Moraad Ali Khan, Eminent shooter

4. Ms. Deepali Deshpande, High-Performance Coach (Senior Rifle)

5. Shri Manoj Kumar, Chief Coach (Senior Rifle)

6. Shri Samaresh Jung, High-Performance Coach (Senior Pistol)

7. Shri Ved Prakash Pilaniya, Chief Coach (Senior Pistol)

8. Shri Mansher Singh, Chief Coach (Senior Shotgun)

9. Ms. Suma Shirur, Chief Coach (Junior Rifle)

10. Shri Jaspal Rana, Chief Coach (Junior Pistol)

11. Shri Mikhailov Oleg, Foreign Coach (Senior Rifle)

12. Shri Smirnov Pavel, Foreign Coach (Senior Pistol)

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