PM Modi inaugurates Asia’s second longest bridge-Bogibeel in Assam: 10 facts

The bridge, constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 5,900 crore, has a "serviceable period of around 120 years"

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Asia’s second longest rail-cum road bridge, Bogibeel in Assam on Tuesday. The bridge has a serviceable period of around 120 years as per senior officials. Bogibeel is a combined rail and road bridge over Brahmaputra river in Dibrugarh. All you need to know about Bogibeel Bridge:

1. The 4.9 km-long Bogibeel Bridge on the Bramhaputra river is India's only fully welded bridge for which european codes and welding standards were adhered to for the first time in the country
2. Fully welded bridge has a low maintenance cost.
3. The bridge, constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 5,900 crore, has a "serviceable period of around 120 years"
4. The bridge reduces travel time from Assam to Arunachal Pradesh to four hours and will cut out the detour of over 170 km via Tinsukia.
5. It will also reduce Delhi to Dibrugarh train-travel time by about three hours to 34 hours as against 37 hours presently.
6. Modi will open the bridge to traffic, 16 years after it was announced by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vjpayee.
7. The bridge has a two-line railway track on the lower deck and a three-lane road on the top deck. For the first time in Indian Railways, the girder has steel floor system for railway tracks and concrete for road.
8. Most 2D' automatic nesting software was used to generate efficient two-dimensional cutting plans for fabricating the steel superstructure for the bridge.
9. After December 25, people, especially patients from Assam Medical College located here, can travel straight from Dibrugarh from the other side of the river instead of using the ferries.
10. The bridge is part of infrastructure projects planned by India to improve logistics along the border in Arunachal Pradesh. This includes the construction of a trans-Arunachal highway on the north bank of the Brahmaputra, and new road and rail links over the mighty river and its major tributaries such as the Dibang, Lohit, Subansiri and Kameng.