Muttra Bridge
Muttra Bridge over the Jumna River
The modern names for the town is ‘Mathura’ and the ‘Yamuna River’.
The Bridge was constructed by the ‘Cawnpore-Achnera Provincial State Railway’ and opened in July 1884 [1] completing the connection between Cawnpore and Muttra and onward connection to Achnera.
The metre gauge(MG) railway and the bridge was absorbed by the ‘Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway’(BB&CIR) on 8th April 1907 becoming the ‘Cawnpore-Achnera BB&CIR Main Line’.
Background
Prior to the opening of the bridge the Jumna River was crossed by the ‘Muttra Bridge of Boats, Jumna River’ [2]
Construction
The construction of this bridge is reported to have been undertaken by James Richard Bell in his Obituary in the '1914 Institution of Civil Engineers: Obituaries' [3] which states:-
“JAMES RICHARD BELL died at Ightham, Kent, on the 14th July, 1913. Born at Wick in 1841, he joined the Indian Public Works service in 1868.
At first employed in the Madras Presidency, he was later transferred to the State Railways department of India, in which service he remained until his retirement in 1896. He gained a high reputation in the construction of bridges, amongst the more notable structures erected by him being the Empress Bridge over the Sutlej, the Muttra Bridge across the Jumna, Ferozepur Bridge and the Sher Shah Bridge over the Chenab. He also devised successful means for training rivers by means of bunds.”
No further information concerning the design and construction of the bridge has been found
References
- ↑ “Administration Report on Railways 1918” page 22 (pdf31); Retrieved 29 Nov 2020
- ↑ ‘Bridge of boats across the Jumna at Muttra’; Retrieved 29 Nov 2020
- ↑ 'Grace's Guide' "James Richard Bell") ; Retrieved 3 May 2018
