In India which has the 3rd or 4th largest railway network in the world, there are thousands of railway bridges older than 100 years and are still operational. The Central government in association with various railway divisions are replacing them with modern technology to withstand the loads, frequency of trains and the speed. There are innumerable old iron bridges that came up during the colonial period and at that point of time were built with amazing techniques with meticulous care. Heritage lovers and historians want them preserved for the posterity to keep the connectivity between steam engine period and Diesel or electric engine period. Since the colonial period, the railways have grown a lot and more and more new BG lines are being added up to meet the demand from the travelling public.
Steps have been taken up by the government and railway officials to convert the heritage railway bridges across the country into National Monuments with recreation facilities.
Jubilee Bridge, Hooghley
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| Jubilee Bridge 1887, West Bengal en.wikipedia.org |
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| Jubilee Bridge Kolkata, flicker.com |
Above image: Jubilee Bridge is an important bridge over the Hooghly River between Naihati and Bandel, West Bengal; flanked on either side by Garifa and Hooghly Ghat stations, the bridge was one of the oldest in India featuring cantilever truss technique. It used only rivets, no nuts or bolts and had a unique feature of pendulum bearings.
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| Schematic diagram Jubilee Bridge Kolkata, esearchgate.net Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com. |
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| Jubilee Bridge with Sampreeti Bridge on the background en.wikipedia.org |
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| Victoria's Golden Jubilee silver double florin, struck 1887 upload.wikimedia.org |
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| Sir Bradford Leslie,KCIE (1831-1926) en.wikipedia.org |
Above image: Sir Bradford Leslie KCIE (1831-1926) an English civil engineer who specialized in bridges and was a student of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Consulting engineer to the Eastern Bengal Railway, Leslie was sent to India as engineer in charge of bridges and viaducts. His most noteworthy achievement was the 1887 Jubilee Bridge, West Bengal.......................
The Bridge was designed by Sir Bradford Leslie, The work on the old bridge began in earnest n 1882 under chief engineer Lt Col Arth John Barry, nephew of Sir John Wolfe-Barry, project manager of London Tower bridge England. The steel for the bridge was made by Hawks Crawshay of Gateshead in England and James Goodwin of Motherwell in Scotland. Its cast-iron pendulum bearings proved to be the bridge's undoing and trains had to follow speed restrictions because two bearings at the Naihati-end developed cracks and might become serious in course of time.
The Jubilee Bridge that had served the people for 129 years, and several generations used the service to cross the River Hooghly was decommissioned from service on 17 April 2016 to handle more traffic; the last train to pass through it being train number 13141, Teesta-Torsa Express, Same time rail traffic was diverted through Sampreeti Bridge, the new bridge between Bandel and Naihati section of the Eastern Railway, that has been constructed besides the Jubilee Bridge. The nebridge is called Sampreeti Setu, though some refer to it as the New Jubilee Bridge. There are other old railway bridges too and the Heritage Directorate of the Indian Railways has a list of such old colonial bridge - about 21 of them. .The nebridge is called Sampreeti Setu, though some refer to it as the New Jubilee Bridge. Some old ones are between Hooghly Ghat and Garifa station.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/50789556.cms?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_Bridge_(India)
_by_Piyal_Kundu.jpg&description=Jubilee Railway Bridge, Hooghley 1887, WB should be converted into a National Heritage Monument){kind=link}