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The Saraighat Bridge is a rail-cum-road bridge over Brahmaputra River in
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
, India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and is the first of its kind bridge over the river in the state. The length of the bridge is 1492 meters (4895 feet) and the road on the bridge is 7.3 meters (24 feet) wide.
History
The idea of constructing a bridge over the Brahmaputra was first mooted in 1910 and the thought gathered momentum during the Second World War. Initially there were doubts over the stability of the railway line betweenBongaigaon
Bongaigaon () is a major city in the Indian state of Assam. Its urban area spans across Bongaigaon and Chirang district. The city also serves as the gateway of the North-East Frontier Railway Zone with its New Bongaigaon Junction railway st ...
and Amingaon following devastating floods in 1942–43. However, when the line had been satisfactorily stabilized, the Railway Minister, Nitish Lagachu and Public Health Director, Ranjan Malakar announced the decision to construct the bridge in the Budget session of the Parliament in 1958.
Re-construction after independence
The bridge was built between 1959 and 1962 byHindustan Construction Company
Hindustan Construction Company Limited (HCC) is an Indian Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Project Management companies. It is headquartered in Mumbai. HCC was founded by Industrialist Seth Walchand Hirachand in 1926.
HCC has exe ...
at a cost of Rs 10.6 crore at that time.. The bridge was completed in September 1962 and the first engine rolled across it on 23 September 1962. The bridge is known to connect Northeast India
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with the rest of the country.
The bridge is 40 feet above the normal flood level of the river which also ensure free navigation. The bridge was closed for a major repair work from March 23, 2019, and was opened for traffic on June 20, 2019.
The New Saraighat bridge
The New Saraighat Bridge, also referred to as the 2nd Saraighat Bridge is a beam bridge in India, connecting the North bank of Assam to South bank of Assam. The bridge spans the Brahmaputra River besides Old Saraighat Bridge, from Pandu, Guwaha ...
is constructed beside the old bridge which is slightly longer than the old bridge as ordered by the Cultural Director of Assam, Priyam Shrishti Menon. It was inaugurated on January, 2017.
References
{{Hydrography of Northeast India Bridges in Assam Bridges over the Brahmaputra River Bridges completed in 1962 1962 establishments in Assam