How Dr. G Madhavi Latha shaped the world’s highest railway arch in Kashmir in 17 years

The Chenab Bridge, recently inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is not just another railway structure. Standing 359 metres above the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir, this steel arch bridge has claimed the title of the world’s highest railway arch.

But behind this Rs 1,486 crore marvel lies a lesser-known story of a woman engineer who quietly and persistently shaped its very foundation over 17 years.

Dr. G Madhavi Latha, a professor of rock engineering from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), was a central figure in one of India’s most complex infrastructure undertakings.

An Unprecedented Engineering Challenge

Located in the Reasi district, the Chenab Bridge spans a dramatic gorge as part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL), a 272-km-long project designed to connect the Kashmir Valley to the rest of India by rail.

With a length of 1,315 metres and a 467-metre-long arch, the bridge surpasses the height of the Eiffel Tower by 35 metres. Constructed in a seismic and wind-prone zone, the structure is designed to endure winds up to 260 kmph, withstand earthquakes, and last 120 years.

The bridge is not just a transport link but also a strategic asset. Once fully operational, it will slash the travel time between Katra and Srinagar to less than three hours via the Vande Bharat Express and reduce dependence on the weather-vulnerable Srinagar-Jammu highway.

The Woman Behind the Slopes and Anchors

While the engineering community marvelled at the bridge's structural audacity, Dr. Madhavi Latha quietly played a decisive role in overcoming the daunting geological obstacles that threatened to derail the project.

Recruited by Northern Railways and contractor Afcons, Latha acted as a geotechnical consultant responsible for the bridge’s slope stabilisation and foundation design.

We are proud of Prof Madhavi Latha & her team's contribution to the #ChenabBridge inaugurated by Hon'ble PM Narendra Modi🎉
The team worked on stability of slopes, design & construction of foundations, design of slope stabilisation systems incl. rock anchors to withstand hazards. pic.twitter.com/BApCSJTRZX

— IISc Bangalore (@iiscbangalore) June 6, 2025

Notably, her expertise came into sharp focus as the terrain revealed a mix of fractured rocks, hidden cavities, and complex geological features that couldn’t be foreseen in early surveys. 

Latha’s team adopted a dynamic ‘design-as-you-go’ approach, tweaking, modifying, and sometimes reinventing their designs on site. From recommending the placement of rock anchors to stabilising slope faces, her decisions ensured the bridge's viability in an unforgiving environment.

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A Journey Forged Through Resistance

Latha's road to success wasn't carved out easily. When she joined IISc in 2004, she was its first female faculty member in her department, and had to fight for something as basic as a women’s toilet in the building.

Reportedly, these early challenges shaped her resilience. Even at remote field sites in Jammu, she encountered subtle biases such as solicited help, doubts over her abilities, but refused to let them interfere with her work.

Her fieldwork took her across harsh terrains, rock slopes, mines, and tunnels, where she monitored construction, advised on technical crises, and worked through nights at critical junctures.

Her academic contributions, including a paper titled “Design as You Go: The Case Study of Chenab Railway Bridge” published in the Indian Geotechnical Journal, are a testament to how her hands-on knowledge fed back into the scientific community.

Academic Excellence Meets Field Innovation

Dr. Latha’s academic journey is equally remarkable. A gold medalist from NIT Warangal with an M.Tech in Geotechnical Engineering, she earned her PhD from IIT Madras in 2000. Her research focuses on soil reinforcement and the behaviour of geosynthetics under stress, a field that directly influenced her work on the Chenab project.

Over the years, she has earned numerous accolades, including the Best Woman Geotechnical Researcher Award by the Indian Geotechnical Society in 2021 and inclusion in the Top 75 Women in STEAM of India list in 2022.

The Bridge as a Symbol of Tenacity

The Chenab Bridge is, in many ways, a symbol—not just of engineering prowess, but also of perseverance and inclusion. It marks India’s capability to build infrastructure at world-class standards under the harshest conditions.

At the same time, it serves as a reminder that the path to scientific and structural breakthroughs is often paved by individuals who work silently in the background, navigating both technical hurdles and societal biases.

In Dr. Madhavi Latha’s story, India finds more than a bridge builder. It finds a quiet revolutionary whose 17-year contribution not only held up steel and rock, but also set a stronger foundation for women in engineering.