Video shows train crossing bridge in China, not 'world’s highest railway bridge' in India
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on March 31, 2023 at 10:55
- 3 min read
- By Devesh MISHRA, AFP India
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The video was viewed more than 273,000 times after being shared on Facebook on March 24, 2023.
The post's caption reads: "#Congratulations India!
"Successful small train test run was conducted on 21 March on world's highest railway track under construction on Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link on Chenab river in JammuAndKashmir".
The Chenab Railway Bridge -- set to open next year -- will be built at an altitude of about 359 metres (1,178 feet) above the riverbed, which its developers claim will make it the highest railway bridge in the world.
Once completed, it will connect Indian-administered Kashmir by rail with the rest of the country. India’s Ministry of Railways shared pictures of the partially completed bridge here on March 28.
The video has been shared alongside a similar false claim on Facebook here and here; and on Twitter here.
The video in fact shows a railway bridge in China.
Chinese bridge
A reverse image search on Google using a keyframe from the video found the same clip published in a Facebook post on June 27, 2022.
The post's caption reads: "Beipan River Bridge, Guizhou."
According to the Chinese state-owned newspaper Guizhou Daily Press, the Beipanjiang railway bridge is located above the Beipanjiang river valley in southwest China's Guizhou province.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the video shared in the 2022 Facebook post (right):
The video in the false posts corresponds with this photo of the Beipanjiang railway bridge published by the China Railway Engineering Consulting Group.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the photo from the China Railway Engineering Consulting Group (right):
The bridge can be seen here on Google Earth.
In a video shared here on the website of the Guizhou Daily newspaper, a person identified as working for China Railway can be heard saying in Mandarin that the same bridge in Guizhou province was built in 2001, and its height is 280 metres (918.6 feet).
He says, "We are now in the Guizhou Province's Yingpan Township of Liupanshui city. This bridge, which is called the Beipanjiang railway bridge, has a shape like a rainbow and straddles the north and south banks."
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