This is not the video of Jammu & Kashmir’s Chenab Bridge
The video is of the Beipanjiang Railway Bridge located on the Beipan river near the city of Liupanshui in Guizhou province, China.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 27 March 2023 1:20 PM GMT
A video of a train running on a bridge connecting two mountains at a very high altitude has gone viral on social media. Those sharing the video claim it shows the Chenab bridge of Jammu and Kashmir.
BJP spokesperson R.P. Singh shared the video and wrote, “Successful small train test run was conducted on 21st March on world’s highest railway track under construction on Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link on Chenab river in Reasi District(Jammu) of Jammu & Kashmir Union Territory.” (Archive)
(Screengrab source: Twitter)
Several Facebook users shared the video with the same claim.
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the video is of the Beipanjiang Railway Bridge located on the Beipan river near the city of Liupanshui in Guizhou province, China.
On performing a reverse image search of the video’s keyframe, we found the video posted by a Facebook user on 27 June 2022. The video is accompanied by Chinese texts and the user, in the caption, identified the bridge as the Beipan river bridge in Guizhou province of China.
Further, we ran a keyword search and came across a website called highestbridges.com which carried several images of the Beipanjiang Railway Bridge Shuibai. It said the bridge opened in 2001 and is 275 meters high and 118 kilometres long, connecting Liupanshui and Baiguo. It also mentioned that the bridge is located southwest of the city of Liupanshui near the north end of China’s Guizhou province on the Shuibai Railway over the Beipan river.
On comparing a still from the viral video with an image from the website, we found that the landscape of the mountains, the reddish-orange arch of the bridge, the river flowing under the bridge, and the pillars of the bridge were identical.
About Chenab Bridge
It is important to note that the track-laying work on the Chenab bridge started on 21 February 2023.
The Indian Express on 26 March quoted Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw as saying that the world’s highest railway bridge on the river Chenab in Jammu and Kashmir is likely to be operationalised by the end of the month.
On 26 March, Mr. Vaishnaw also tweeted a video of him inspecting the Chenab Railway Bridge and participating in the trolley run test.
It is evident from these findings that the viral video shows the Beipanjiang Railway Bridge of China, not the under-construction Chenab Railway Bridge in Jammu and Kashmir. Hence, we conclude that the claim is false.
