Why Bogibeel Bridge - world's longest steel bridge - is an engineering marvel

Bogibeel bridge will provide connectivity to nearly five million people residing in Upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

HCC said the project boasts of multiple benefits such as strategic and speedier access for defence forces to the Indo-China border, seamless access for medical facilities to remote north-eastern states, and most importantly reducing by nearly 10 hours the transportation distance between NH-37 and NH-52, saving transportation cost, time and fuel.

"HCC has time and again undertaken complex infrastructure projects that are benchmarks in India's infrastructure journey. Bogibeel Bridge is an engineering masterpiece, which has many technical firsts to its name. It is India's first fully welded Warren truss girder type steel bridge.

"Not only has an incremental launching technique for superstructure erection been used for the first time in India, it is also the world's longest incrementally launched steel bridge. HCC is proud to create such marvels for the nation," HCC Director & Group CEO Arjun Dhawan said.

The company said its team through sheer determination and grit completed this project, as bridging the mighty Brahmaputra has always been a daunting task.

Photo Credits: PTI  

The company said the superstructure of the Bogibeel bridge has been constructed using special copper-bearing steel plates in order to reduce corrosion.

Furthermore, due to excessive humidity in the area, a complex Corrosion Protection System specific to different components of the bridge has been implemented, it added.

Source: PTI

To offer stability to the heavy spans (1700 MT), seismic restrainers are provided. The bridge is designed to withstand earthquakes with magnitudes in excess of 7, the company said.

It has a serviceable period of around 120 years.  "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, said Chief Engineer Mohinder Singh.

Singh said a fully welded bridge has a low maintenance cost. The bridge, constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 5,900 crore, has a "serviceable period of around 120 years", he said.

Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) Chief Public Relations Officer Pranav Jyoti Sharma said almost 75 per cent of the 4,000-km long border that India shares with China is in Arunachal Pradesh, and the bridge will help in logistical support for the Indian Army manning the border.

Bridge will enable the military to speedily dispatch forces to neighbouring Arunachal, which borders China. This has cut the rail journey between Dibrugarh and Arunachal by 750 km.

The bridge can bear the weight of India’s heaviest battle tanks and also allow fighter jets to land.