Hardinge Bridge
The 5900 feet long Hardinge Bridge on the river Padma at the railway divisional town of Paksey is a wonderful piece of work in the railway engineering all over the world. The construction work and skill is so amazing that it is studied in the engineering colleges in Europe. The credit goes to Engineer Sir Robert Gailes and the British government. When Gale was asked what did he expect from the government as reward, he said: I want a steel footpath attached to the bridge for use by the people free of currency. It means that the footpath was not in the original plan and design, but added at the plea of Engineer in Chief Gailes.
The specialty of the bridge is that two trains can cross the river at a time with full speed. It has two-lane broad gauge lines and a steel footpath on the downstream side. The Paksey Railway Station is about 60 feet above the sea level. For that reason, stairs have been constructed on both the sides of the station.
The bridge passed its 100 years in 2015 and its grace period will expire in 2030 after which it will be abandoned. So, to keep the railway communication unhurt, a new bridge will have to be constructed at the same point. The government seems to have realised the reality and we wait when the mega project work will begin.
Ameer Hamzah
Dhaka
