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The Panval Nadi Viaduct - One of Asia’s Tallest Railway Bridges

The Panval Nadi Viaduct in Maharashtra stands as one of Asia’s tallest railway bridges, a 64 m-high engineering marvel that pioneered the incremental launching technique in India. Discover how this 1990s innovation redefined railway construction across the Konkan.

Pratik Kamble

14 Oct 2025 — 2 min read

The Panval Nadi Viaduct

🏗️ India’s Engineering Gem in the Ghats

Hidden deep in the lush valleys near Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, the Panval Nadi Viaduct stands as one of Asia’s tallest railway bridges, a true engineering gem of the Konkan Railway. Rising nearly 64 meters above the valley floor and stretching 424 meters in length, this elegant concrete giant carries trains safely through some of India’s toughest terrain.

🚆 Engineering Innovation: India’s First of Its Kind

When completed in the early 1990s, the Panval Nadi Viaduct made history, it was the first bridge in India built using the incremental launching method for a pre-stressed concrete (PSC) box girder deck across such a tall viaduct.

The design features:

11 spans (2 end spans of 30 m and 9 central spans of 40 m each).
Hollow octagonal RCC piers with open foundations.
A single-cell PSC box girder that was pushed across the valley using hydraulic jacks, instead of conventional scaffolding.

This method allowed engineers to complete the bridge efficiently and safely despite the deep gorge and monsoon-prone terrain.

🏆 Recognition and Legacy

The structure’s innovative design and execution earned it the “Most Outstanding Concrete Structure in India” award (1995) from the American Concrete Institute (Maharashtra Chapter).

Even decades later, the Panval Nadi Viaduct remains a benchmark in Indian railway engineering, inspiring many subsequent projects across the Konkan stretch.

🌿 A Scenic Yet Strategic Link

Located between Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg, the viaduct is part of the spectacular Konkan Railway line, connecting Maharashtra, Goa, and Karnataka.
It not only shortened travel time but also showcased how technology could conquer nature, bridging deep valleys without disturbing the ecosystem excessively.

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