Himalayan Times (1962)

April 15, 1962 Himalayan Times

i. F. RAILWAY - IN THE SERVICE CF THE NATION

S iri B.C. Gaunguli, General Manager, N. F. R

The dynanism set off
by the 'Plans' in this
ancient land has permeated,
with equal fores to this
far flung northeast part
of the oountry. Large r'-
6erves of crude oil have
been struck in Upper
Assam, new industries are
springing up and the
entire countryside is throb-
bing with intense deve-
lopmental activities.

The Northeast Frontier
Railway came into exis-
tence in the thick of the
Second Plan, on January
15, 1958, to share in the
exploitation of the vast
potentialities of the area.
By the nature of its lo
cation, it had to battle
hard, on one hand, with
the initial problems and
on the other, deploy all
available resources to con-
solidation and expansion.
In addition, preliminary
works for modernisation
of the Railway had to
be undertaken.

One of the major
aohivements of the Second
Five Year Plan was the
completion of the works
in connection with the
strengthenirg of the Assam
Link Route—the lifeline
to Assam and North E»st
India. The effectiveness of
the works done has been
very encouraging in as

much as the line of commu-
nication remained uninter
rupted during the last
three rainj7 seasons With
improved operating condi-
tions prevailing on the
Link Route, there has
been an increase of about
93 per cent in the move-
ment of traffic from Sili-
guri Junction to Alipur-
duar. The upward trend
wll increase further in the
Third Plan.

To provide the link
between Amingaon on the
north bank of the river
Brahmaputra, and Pandu,
on the south bank, the
Railway operates ferry
services for crossing pas-
sengers and goods. The
wagon ferry has a oapacity
for crossing about 250
wagons a day.

During the monsoon
and high flood, the ope-
ration of the ferr- presents
serious difficulties and
constitutes a bottleneck
to free movement o f
wagons across the river.
To overcome this, the
Second Plan saw the com-
mencement in January
19S9, of the construction
of a bridge across the
Brahmaputra, the only
major river, hitherto, un-
bridged.

The bridge consists of
10 spans of 403 feet 4|

Five

inohes, centre to centre
of piers with an approach
span of 108 feet 11 inches
at each end. Provision
has been made for a
double track metre Gauge
Railway on the lower
deck, the upper deck
carrying a 24-foot wide
roadway with 16-foot wide
foot paths on either side.

The Bridge has been
designed to permit con-
version of the doable line
Metre Gauge to a single
Broad Gauge track, if
required in the future.
A clearance of 40 feet is
provided from the normal
high flood level of the
river to the bottom
of the bridge girders, to
permit free navigation.

The special feature*
in the design and cons-
truction of the Bridge,
carried out by Indian en-
gineers, have aroused
international interest. A
team of engineers of the
Economic Commission for
Asia and the Far Bast
comprising representatives
from Thailand, Cambodia,
Ceylon, the Phillipines,
New Zealand and U.S.S.R.
visited Pandu in Novem-
ber 1960, to study the
technique employed in its
construction. They were
greatly impressed.

The completion of the
Bridge, likely to come off
by the end of this year
will be a landmark in
the history of Assam,
removin g a major bottle-