Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates Bogibeel bridge

December 25, 2018: The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi today dedicated the Bogibeel rail-cum-road bridge to the nation. Built on river Brahmaputra in Dibrugarh district of Assam, it is the first fully welded steel bridge and the longest rail-cum-road bridge in India. HCC has constructed the superstructure of the 4.9 km long bridge.

The bridge will provide connectivity to nearly five million people residing in Upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. It will also give easy and direct access to Upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, in contrast to the current route through Guwahati, which is 450 km long. Due to its location, the bridge will be of strategic importance to India as it will significantly enhance India's ability to transport troops and supplies to its border in Arunachal Pradesh.

Mr. Arjun Dhawan, Director & Group Chief Executive Officer, said, “It is a moment of immense pride for us to construct such an engineering masterpiece. This has many firsts in India - is the first fully welded Warren truss girder type steel bridge and incremental launching has been used for superstructure erection for the first time in India. This is also the world’s longest incrementally launched steel bridge. HCC team through its sheer dedication and meticulous planning has completed this project under challenging circumstances.”

With the width ranging from 1.2 km to 18 km, Brahmaputra river has been bridged four times in the past. HCC holds a distinction of building two of these bridges and has now constructed the 5th bridge at Bogibeel.

The superstructure of the Bogibeel Bridge has been constructed using a special grade copper-bearing steel plates in order to reduce corrosion. To further reduce corrosions due to the excessive humidity in the area, a complex Corrosion Protection System specific to different components of the bridge has been implemented during the construction of the bridge.

The Bogibeel Bridge falls in seismic zone-V. This zone has been the most vulnerable to earthquakes with magnitudes in excess of seven on the Richter scale. To offer good stability to the heavy spans (1700 MT), they are provided with seismic restrainers. The bridge is designed to withstand earthquakes with magnitudes in excess of 7.0.