Jubilee Bridge
The Jubilee Bridge , known originally as the Hooghly River Bridge,is an important rail bridge over Hooghly River between Naihati and Hooghly. The bridge was constructed by the East Indian Railway(EIR) and connected to the East Bengal Railway(EBR) enabling freight traffic from upper India to run to the Port of Calcutta, with a charge being paid to EBR for the use of their tracks. [1]
The Bridge was designed by Alexander Meadows Rendel, Consultant Engineer to EIR and Bradford Leslie, the EIR Chief Engineer. The Jubilee Bridge is considered to be the climax of both their bridge-building careers allowing trains to cross the Hooghly River to Calcutta. The construction started in 1882 and was completed in 1887. The Chief Engineer in charge of construction works was Lt Col Arthur John Barry. The Jubilee Bridge was opened on 16 February 1887 in the fiftieth or jubilee year of the reign of Queen Victoria. [2]
The Jubilee Bridge is noteworthy in that it is a cantilever truss bridge, constructed entirely by riveting, without any nuts or bolts used in the construction [2].
Records
An on-line search of the India Office Records (IOR) records held at the British Library relating to this railway [3] gives the following:-
- L/F/8/12/894; "East Indian Railway Company, Contract re Hooghly Bridge"; 6 Aug 1884
It also gives the following:-
- Z/E/4/25/R754; Rivers, Hooghly, Plans for bridge over at Calcutta, correspondence respecting"; 1854-55
The implication here is that there where earlier proposals to bridge the Hooghly River - these have not been investigated
References
- ↑ “Symphony of Progress - The Saga of the Eastern Railway 1854-2003”; published by Eastern Railway, 2003; page 30
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Wikipedia "Jubilee Bridge India”; Retrieved 23 Apr 2016
- ↑ “British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue” - Search; Retrieved 23 Apr 2016