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PM Narendra Modi to inaugurate country's longest rail-road bridge on December 25

With several deadlines having been missed over the past 16 years, the first freight train ran on it on December 3.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate on December 25 the Bogibeel Bridge, India's longest rail-road bridge, connecting the north and south banks of the Brahmaputra, falling in the eastern part of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, a senior railway official said.

The bridge is 4.94 km long.

"The PM will inaugurate the bridge on December 25 which is also marked by the government as Good Governance Day," the official told.

While former prime minister H D Deve Gowda laid the foundation stone for the Bogibeel bridge in January 1997, the work started only in April 2002 when former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated the construction.

With several deadlines having been missed over the past 16 years, the first freight train ran on it on December 3.

Bogibeel is part of infrastructure projects planned by India to improve logistics along the border in Arunachal Pradesh. This includes the construction of a trans-Arunachal highway on the north bank of the Brahmaputra, and new road and rail links over the mighty river and its major tributaries such as the Dibang, Lohit, Subansiri and Kameng.

India and China share a nearly 4,000 km border.The 4.94 km bridge, work on which started in 2002, is the longest rail-cum-road bridge in India. It will connect Dhemaji and Dibrugarh districts at the north and south banks of Brahmaputra river.

The bridge, which is the second longest in Asia, has three lane roads on top and double line rail below.

The bridge is 32 metres above the water level of the Brahamaputra and is fashioned on a bridge that links Sweden and Denmark.

For the government, the bridge, officials said is both a symbol of development in the northeast as well as part of a strategic move solving logistical issues for the armed forces stationed at the China border to get supplies from Tezpur.

Bogibeel is part of infrastructure projects planned by India to improve logistics along the border in Arunachal Pradesh. This includes the construction of a trans-Arunachal highway on the north bank of the Brahmaputra, and new road and rail links over the mighty river and its major tributaries such as the Dibang, Lohit, Subansiri and Kameng.

India and China share a nearly 4,000 km border, with almost 75 per cent in Arunachal Pradesh.

As of now, the rail and road link to Arunachal is through three Assam bridges -- Jogighopa in Bongaigaon district, Saraighat near Guwahati, and Kolia-Bhomora between Sonitpur and Nagaon.

This means that a cargo from Dibrugarh in the north-eastern corner of Assam takes over a 600 km detour merely to cross the Brahmaputra.

The other alternative is crossing by ferry, but it is not suitable for heavy cargo and due to monsoons for six months between May-October, ferry services often remain disrupted.

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