A bridge at Akhnoor over Chenab river provides the shortest land route from Jammu to poonch. An existing steel girder bridge was considerably damaged by unprecedented floods in 1992. Class 24 bridge as replacement was constructed by Northern Railway in Apr 93. Over a period of time, certain defects were noticed in this bridge and as a precautionary measures it’s load class was restricted to 18.

Construction of a class 70 R permanent bridge of span 231 mtr was sanctioned in May 1977 for Rs.77 lacs. The work on the bridge, awarded to M/S NBCC Ltd, started in 1978. Since the performance of M/S NBCC was very poor, the contract was cancelled in Jun 1985. The construction of balance work was awarded to M/S Banka (India) Ltd in Feb 1987 at the risk and cost of M/S MBCC Ltd, who could not complete the work as the piers constructed by them were tilted and subsequently they had to abandon the work in Jun 1994.
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nickname: Pearl Bridge