New Delhi, Feb 21: The Chenab Rail Bridge—the world’s highest at 359m above the riverbed—nearly derailed in 2008 when the Railway Board urged Afcons Infrastructure to quit amid legal and environmental hurdles, but the firm stayed committed despite losses.
Afcons Executive Chairman Krishnamurthy Subramanian revealed the pivotal moment to PTI: then-Chairman Cyrus Mistry (who died in 2022) and he debated staying despite a 90-day project suspension and Supreme Court challenges over the arch design. “The member (engineering) called: ‘This is your chance to walk out.’ But we saw opportunity where others saw impossibility,” Subramanian said.
Believing no other firm could complete the iconic 1,315m steel arch—35m taller than the Eiffel Tower—they persisted. PM Narendra Modi flagged off the Vande Bharat Express over it in June 2025, completing the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL).
Subramanian noted design adaptations like added blast loads as challenges evolved. Afcons, now globally recognized for engineering excellence, also built India’s first underwater metro tunnel in Kolkata and works on Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train projects.
