Hardinge Bridge
The Hardinge Bridge, before inauguration known as the Sara Ghat Bridge is a steel railway bridge at Sara over the river Ganges(+Padma) located in East Bengal (now western Bangladesh). It is named after Lord Hardinge, who was the Viceroy of India from 1910 to 1916. The bridge is 1.8 kilometres (1.1 mi) long and was constructed to carry the broad gauge(BG) East Bengal Railway(EBR). [1]
The construction of a railway bridge over the Ganges(+Padma) was proposed in 1889 by the Eastern Bengal Railway for easier communication between Calcutta and Eastern Bengal and Assam. In 1902, Francis Joseph Edward Spring prepared a report on the bridge. A technical committee reported that a bridge could be constructed at Sara crossing the lower Ganges between the Paksey and Bheramara Upazila stations on the BG railway from Khulna to Parbatipur Upazila. [2]
The Consulting Engineer in London was Sir Alexander Meadows Rendel and Frederick Ewart Robertson was an active partner in that firm and was resposible for the designs for the steelwork of perhaps the most difficult bridge yet undertaken, at Sara over the Lower Ganges. [3].
The construction of the Sara Ghat Bridge started in 1910 and opened to traffic in 1915, and became the Hardinge Bridge. Robert Richard Gales from the Public Works Department was Engineer-in-Chief and the construction was a major engineering challenge as fully described in the 'The Engineer' of October 1914 [4].
+ The river between the west side of Bangladesh and its confluence with the Jamuna was previously called the Ganges, and is now referred to as the Padma.
Records
An on-line search of the India Office Records (IOR) held at the British Library relating to this construction [5] gives the following: -
- V/25/720/6 “Railway Board Technical Papers; 1903-1927" which contains ' No 215 The Hardinge Bridge over the Lower Ganges at Sara. Sir F J E Spring. 1921'
- L/AG/46/52 “Report of the Hardinge Bridge Committee; 1935" with the Catalogue comment 'The Hardinge Bridge over the Ganges between Damukdia (in Kushtia District) and Sara (in Pabna District) was completed in 1915 and linked the southern and northern sections of the Eastern Bengal State Railway. By 1934 changes in the course of the Ganges posed a threat to the structure of the bridge and a committee was appointed to suggest remedial measures.'
References
- ↑ Wikipedia "Hardinge Bridge" Retrieved on 8 Dec 2015
- ↑ Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil EngineersVolume 205, Issue 1918; pages 18-67. "The Hardinge Bridge over the Lower Ganges at Sara". Published Online: June 05, 2015 Retrieved on 8 Dec 2015
- ↑ Grace's Guide "Frederick Ewart Robertson"; Retrieved 8 Jun 2016
- ↑ The Engineer October 1914, pages 316-318- "Bridge over the Lower Ganges" reproduced by Grace's Guide; Retrieved 16 Jul 2016
- ↑ “British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue” - Search; Retrieved Jan 2016