National desk:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the world's tallest railway bridge, Chenab Bridge, built in Jammu and Kashmir, on Friday (June 6, 2025). The project is part of the 272 km long Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Link (USBRL) and was approved in 2003. Professor G. Madhavi Latha has a huge contribution in the successful construction of this bridge.
Professor Madhavi Latha at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, was involved in the Chenab Bridge project as a geotechnical consultant for 17 years. She worked with the bridge contractor, Afcons, in the planning, design and construction of the structure. During this time, the focus was on the problems arising due to the hilly terrain.
G. Madhavi Lata is currently HAG Professor at IISc. Dr. Latha earned her B.Tech degree in Civil Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in 1992, where she secured a First Class Distinction.
She won a gold medal while pursuing her M.Tech at National Institute of Technology Warangal. Her specialisation was in geotechnical engineering. Dr. Latha earned her doctorate in geotechnical engineering from IIT-Madras in 2000. In 2021, she was awarded the Best Woman Geotechnical Researcher Award by the Indian Geotechnical Society.
She was named among the Top 75 Women in STEAM in India in 2022. Construction in the Chenab Bridge was a difficult endeavor due to its challenging location, weather conditions and extreme height, but Dr. Latha's team adopted a "design-as-you-go approach" to overcome all difficulties. This meant innovating in real-time based on geological conditions such as fractured rocks and varying rock formations that were not apparent in initial surveys. One of Dr. Lata’s major contributions was the design and placement of rock anchors to improve stability.
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