Old Saraighat Bridge Under Repair Again

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: With the recent repair of the Old Saraighat Bridge which was supposed to sustain for a couple of years, the bridge is in need of repair again. The concrete and pitch on the bridge have crumbled up and needs fixing.

According to an NF Railway Maligaon official, the bridge has not been ordered to be shut down completely. “When one track is repaired, we will keep the other track open so that the conveners do not face inconvenience. The repair work along with fixing crumbled concrete also includes the application of a mastic layer on the bridge”, informed the official. The construction work began from Wednesday and would take around 10 to 12 days to complete.

Recently, old Saraighat Bridge (rail-cum-road) bridge was formally reopened for traffic by the general manager of Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR) today at around 3:30 p.m.

As per an official release by the Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR), the work in the bridge had progressed without any hurdles with the continuous cooperation of the people and civil administration.

The officials also mentioned that the repair work on the upper deck (road portion) of the rail-cum-road bridge has been completed and we have managed to reopen the historical bridge within the stipulated time period.

Over 500 workers were engaged in carrying out the task of replacing all the 54 slabs on the entire upper deck, along with replacement of 11 expansion joints over the pillars.

As per the NFR, the 54 slabs on the entire upper deck, along with replacement of 11 expansion joints over the pillars were badly damaged and methods adopted to replace them involve breaking down the concrete slabs and removing the expansion joints.

It is interesting to know the fact that, on average, 75 workers per day were engaged in breaking the slabs and 45 workers per day were engaged in carrying these broken pieces away and cleaning.

Also Read: NFR formally reopened Old Saraighat Bridge today after 3 months