Bogibeel Bridge

The Boghibeel Project is one of the most ambitious projects of Indian Railways. Basically, it is a double Decker bridge with 3 roadways lines running on the upper deck and two railway lines on the lower. The total length of the project includes laying the tracks on either ends of the river and is a total of 74 kms. Chowalkhowa, a small town near Dibrugarh will be linked to Sirpani.

On the Southern Bank of Brahmaputra, National Highway 37 (NH37) will be the main connecting point for the roads over Boghibeel Bridge which will also lead to NH52 on the northern end of Brahmaputra River.

The project is currently being handled by the Northern Frontier Railways who is working with the PWD in Assam for laying the bridge and roads respectively.

There are already three bridges on this river which are Kolia-Bjumuraguri, Naranarayan Setu and Pandu Saraighat. All four of these bridges fall in Assam. After its completion, the Boghibeel Bridge shall be the longest ever structure to stand over the Brahmaputra. The project was commissioned in the year 1992.

Geography

The Boghibeel is designed at a distance of 11 Kms downstream from the town of Dibrugarh. The bridge is also close to the Assam and Arunachal Pradesh border which is just 20 kms away from the bridge location. The Boghibeel will act a substitute to the Tezpur Bridge by providing ease of travel to the upper districts of Assam and the state of Arunachal Pradesh as a whole. The bridge is further estimated to be beneficial to 5 million people residing in those areas which are otherwise out of railway traffic.

The Boghibeel also contributes strategically to India as it eases a way in Arunachal Pradesh which allows fast movements of troops and armies for the China border. The bridge location is also under a heavy rainfall area and receives rainfall almost 8 – 9 months in a year making the construction of the bridge even tougher. The slow progress of the project is also due to the fact that contraction can be done for only four months in a year.

Description of the Bridge

After getting a green signal from the government in 1997-98, the project began in the year 2002 and is steadily progressing towards its completion.

Overall Structure

The structure of the Boghibeel Bridge over river Brahmaputra is a welded-steel-truss-and-reinforced-concrete structure. The total span of it is 125 mts and is a sturdy box-type built-in section. The main support of the bridge is formed by 42 piers with well foundations.

Bearing Section

The technological challenges due to the extreme terrain of Assam are met by the use of Spherical bearings. At present, the Indian railways bear no regulation about the use of bearing and hence, the use of such bearing may prove to be path breaking and would also help Indian Railways to form a regulation.

Composite truss bridge

The Boghibeel Bridge in Assam is designed in such a way that it would be built up using welded steel trusses with a total span of 125 mts boasting of concrete deck for the roads on the top tier and will be a composite to the steel truss.

The use of composite Truss in Boghibeel is a pioneered move by the Indian Railway as Boghibeel became the first bridge to be blessed with this technology. This paves the way for the technology to be successfully used for long slung ballasted deck bridge for the Indian railways.

This same technology has been used in the construction of the famous Oresund Bridge in Denmark.

Clean Warren truss with no gussets

Clean warren truss with no gussets is one of the most important features in the Boghibeel Bridge. One of the key advantages for a product like this is the fact that it eliminates the chances of water and dust to settle on the structure of the Boghibeel Bridge. This would further be of use as this would negate or at least minimize the risk of corrosion. The use of the same here also paves way for it to be used in metros which are always exposed to water and dust.

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