India Facts

The platform of Kharagpur Railway Station is the longest railway platform in India. The length of the Kharagpur Railway platform is 1072.5m. The platform was originally 716m long. It's length was extended twice, once to 833m and then to its present length. Excluding subway platforms (the Chicago subway has the longest one), Kharagpur has the longest railway platform in the world. Kharagpur is located in the Midnapore West district of the state of West Bengal. It is famous as the place where the first Indian Institute of Technology was established. Kharagpur also has one of the biggest railway workshops in India.

Nehru Setu Bridge near Dehri on the river Sone is the longest railway bridge in India. The bridge is near Sasaram on Kolkata-Delhi Line. It is 3.065km long and has 93 spans of 30.5m each. Next to Nehru Setu is the Narnarayan Setu bridge over the Brahmaputra. The bridge links Jogighopa to Pancharatna (in Assam). It has a total length of 2.3km and has 18 spans, each about 120m, with 2 spans of 30.5m. The bridge over Ganga near Patna is 2km long.

Hirakud Dam built on Mahanadi River is the longest dam in India. The overall length of the main dam is 4.8 km, and the total length is 25.8km with dam and dykes taken together. The dam is about 15 km upstream of Sambalpur town in State of Orissa and was the first post independence major multipurpose river valley project in India. The dam irrigates 436000 ha of CCA in Mahanadi delta and has an installed capacity of 307.5 MW. Hirakud Dam is a composite structure of Earth, Concrete and Masonry. Hirakud Dam intercepts 83400 sq. km (32200 sq miles) of Mahanadi catchments. It has a reservoir spread of 743 sq km at full reservoir level and the reservoir has a storage of 5818 M. Cum with gross of 8136 M Cum.

Indira Sagar Dam on the river Narmada has the largest reservoir in India with a full submergence of 913 sq. km. The dam is proposed to be 92 m high and 653 m long with a slightly curved alignment of 880 m radius across river Narmada near village Narmada Nagar of Development Block Punasa of the Khandwa district in Madhya Pradesh. Indira Sagar Dam will have a gross storage of 12.22 Bm3 and a live storage of 9.75 Bm3. Indira Sagar dam will have an installed capacity of 1000 MW and annual irrigation of 2.65 Lakh Ha. on a CCA of 1.23 Lakh Ha. The total drainage area at the proposed dam site of Indira Sagar Project is 61642 sq. km.

Indira Gandhi Canal is the largest canal in India. The canal is 650 km long and starts from the Harike Barrage, a few kilometers below the confluence of the Sutlej and Beas rivers in Punjab. It flows through Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan, with the major length of the canal flowing through Rajasthan. The canal terminates near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.

The construction of Indira Gandhi Canal was started in 1958. The main objective behind building the canal is to convert the part of Thar desert from wasteland to agriculturally productive area. The canal was earlier known as Rajasthan Canal and its name was changed in 1984. Indira Gandhi Canal uses water released from Pong dam.

Tehri Dam on Bhagirathi River is the highest dam in India. With a height of 261 meters, Tehri Dam is the sixth highest dam in the world. Tehri dam is the main dam of the Tehri Hydro Project, a major power project located in the state of Uttarakhand. The dam's projected capabilities include an power generation capacity of 2400 MW, stabilise irrigation to an area of 6,000 km� and a supply of 270 million gallons of drinking water to Delhi and cities in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Tehri Dam was approved in 1972 and its construction was started in 1978. The dam was in the controversy due to environmental reasons. The main dam will produce 2000 MW of electricity when completed. There is another smaller dam 14 km downstream at Koteshwar that will produce 400 MW of electricity.

Leh airport is the highest airport in India. In fact it is the highest commercial airport in the world. Leh airport is situated at an altitude of about 3000 meter. The airport has been renamed after Koshak Bakola, a spiritual leader of the Ladakh region. Koshak Bakola also served as India's Ambassador to Mangolia.

Leh is a district located in the Ladakh region of the state of Jammu & Kashmir. Its average elevation is 3650 metres. The temperatures in Leh vary from -30�C in winters to 40�C in summers. Leh is a popular tourist destination. Leh is a center of Tibeto-Buddhist culture and is dotted with numerous colorful gompas.

Howrah Bridge (also known as Rabindra Setu) on the Hooghly River in West Bengal is the busiest bridge in India. Howrah Bridge is a famous landmark of Kolkata. It bears the weight of a daily traffic of approx 150,000 vehicles, and 4,000,000 pedestrians. Howrah bridge is a cantilever truss bridge, constructed entirely by riveting, without nuts or bolts. The construction of the Howrah Bridge was started in 1937 and the bridge was opened to traffic on February 1943. The bridge has a central span of 1500 ft between centers of main towers. It has an anchor arm of 325ft each and a cantilever arm of 468ft each. The suspended span of the bridge is 564ft