GUWAHATI: Union minister of state for railways, Rajen Gohain on Tuesday said that the Bogibeel rail-cum-road bridge over the Brahmaputra would be ready for inauguration in December this year.
Accompanied by senior railway officials, Gohain reviewed the progress of construction of the country’s longest bridge on Tuesday morning.
The bridge will connect Dibrugarh on the south bank to Dhemaji on the north.
“The bridge will be opened for public in December by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Ninety-eight per cent work has been completed and the remainder will be completed within November. We are awaiting the inauguration date from the Prime Minister’s Office,” the minister who spent nearly an hour at the site told a section of the media.
The 4.94 km long bridge has already missed several deadlines over the past decade, having taken almost 17 years to be ready for use.
The double decker bridge has three lane roads on top and double line rail below.
The facility will not only lessen communication time between the two districts substantially but is expected to give a fillip to the economy and development of the area.
The Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) had recently inspected the entire rail route from Dhamalgaon rail station (Dibrugarh side) to Tangani rail station (Dhemaji side) and also examined the operation of a rail engine with 15 coaches on the bridge.
Earlier this year, the first rail engine had chugged through the bridge to mark a significant chapter in the history of rail communication in the Northeast.