View source for East Bengal Railway Bridges

'''Eastern Bengal Railway - Lines owned and worked'''

<blockquote>- a sub-section of the '''[[Eastern Bengal Railway]]'''(EBR) page</blockquote>
<blockquote>- see also separate page '''[[Eastern Bengal Railway - Lines owned and worked|East Bengal Railway Bridges - Lines owned and worked]]'''</blockquote>

[[File:East Bengal Railway System 1937 Map.png|thumb| EBR Railway System  1937 Map]]

The '''[[East Bengal Railway]] ''' (EBR) engaged [[Bradford Leslie]] as Resident Engineer from 1858 in-charge of construction of large bridges and viaducts.:- 
[[File: East Bengal Railway Bridges.png|thumb| East Bengal Railway Bridges ]]

==Kumar River Railway Bridge==
Marked '''A''' on map
<br>Construction of the Kumar River bridge, which was carried on caissons founded by compressed air <ref name=Grace/>.
<br>‘Kumar River Bridge’ ;  north from Ranaghat Junction at Alamdanga crossing the river just south of the Sara Ghat Junction. On the ‘EBR Main Line - Eastern Division’ Ranagrat to Porada Junction Section opened 15 Nov 1862 

== Ichamati  River Railway Bridge==
Marked '''B''' on map
<br>Construction of the Ichamati River bridge, which was carried on caissons founded by compressed air. <ref name=Grace>[https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Bradford_Leslie Grace’s Guide ‘Bradford Leslie’ ]; Retrieved 28 Apr 2020</ref>. 
<br>‘Ichamati River Bridge’; at Bangaon crossing the river towards Jessore. Modern name Satvai Kalitala Bridge, on the ‘EBR Main Line - Central Division’ Bangoan to Khulna Section opened 16 Feb 1884

==Gorai River Railway Bridge==
Marked '''C''' on map
<br>Construction commenced c.1865, near  Kushtia , involved the bridging of the Gorai river on the ‘EBR Golundo Extension - Eastern Division ’ Porada Junction to Goalundo Section opened 1 Jan 1871
<br>The Gorai Bidge marks the first of [[Bradford Leslie| Bradford Leslie’s]] large bridge-building achievements in the Indian Empire. It consisted of seven 185-foot spans, supported on eight piers having two iron cylinders each; and was remarkable for the ingenious boring gear used to sink the cylinders to a depth of nearly 100 feet <ref name=Grace/>. Two  Papers delivered to the Institution of Civil Engineers clearly describe the complexity of this work <ref>[https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/pdf/10.1680/imotp.1872.22873 ‘Paper delivered to Institution of Civil Engineers 13 Feb 1872 ‘Account of the Bridge over the Gorai River, on the Goalando Extension of the Eastern Bengal Railway’ by Bradford Leslie]; Retrieved 28 Apr 2020</ref> <ref>[https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/10.1680/imotp.1872.22874 ‘Discussion - Account of the Bridge over the Gorai River’ by Bradford Leslie]; Retrieved 28 Apr 2020</ref>.
<br>A Photographs Album in the British Library mainly records bridge-building activities c.1869-70, in particular the bridge over the Gorai River in Nadia district, West Bengal <ref>[http://searcharchives.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=detailsTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=IAMS032-003057293&indx=3&recIds=IAMS032-003057293&recIdxs=2&elementId=2&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&dscnt=0&frbg=&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BL%29&tab=local&dstmp=1588097913042&srt=rank&mode=Basic&&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Photos%20230%2F%281%29%20&vid=IAMS_VU2   "India Office Records "Photographs Album for shelfmark Photos 230/(1) to 230(44) "Construction of the East Bengal Railway from Calcutta through Nadia and Faridpur districts, c.1869-70"]; Retrieved 29 Apr 2020</ref>. A letter by [[Bradford Leslie]], the compiler of the album (or at the least the collector of some of the prints), indicates that Dr. J.A. Temple was employed as an engineer on the line. People named in these various photographs are Young,  Haines,  Pearce, Aylin, and Hayes. ''No initials given or job titles''
<br>The ‘Gorai Bridge’ was built with 7 spans of 180 foot (55 Mtr) girders. Since opening in 1871 the girders had become weak and distorted entailing severe restrictions to train services  and also the use of modern locomotives and rolling stock, it was found necessary to consider their renewal. At first, with the prospect of the EBR ‘Goalundo Branch’ attaining the importance of a through route to Eastern Bengal in conjunction  with the proposed ‘[[Dacca-Aricha Railway Project]]’ it was proposed to rebuild the ‘Gorai Bridge’ to modern standards at a cost of about Rs.70 lakhs. With the abandonment of the [[Dacca-Aricha Railway Project|’Dacca-Aricha Project’]], the bridge ceased to be of major importance. A modified scheme was approved in Sept 1936 to renew only the girders and to strengthen the original piers, at a cost of Rs. 12.70 lakhs. Though urgent the work could not commence till November owing to an abnormal late rise in the river level. Three spans were renewed during the year, leaving four to be dealt with in 1937-38<ref name=Report1937>[http://hdl.handle.net/10973/18160 “Report by the Railway Board on Indian Railways for 1936-37. Vol. I; Railway Department, Government of India” Para 43 (i), page 42 pdf 57]; Retrieved 20 Jul 2020</ref>.

==References==
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[[Category:Railways]]
[[Category: Railway Constructions‎]]