Life span of Hardinge Bridge!
The Hardinge Bridge will have to be abandoned by 2030. The British government built this 5,900 feet long bridge of wonderful design with two lanes broad gauge lines and a steel footpath on the river Padma at Paksey. The construction of the bridge started in 1910 and was finished in two years. The bridge comprises 15 steel trusses. The main girders are modified “Petit” type. Engineer Gayle projected 100 years as its longevity.
The most difficult task of the operation was to prevent bank erosion and to make the river flow permanently under the bridge. For this, two guide banks of the “Bell-bund” type named after J. R. Bell were built on either side, each extending 910 metres (3,000 ft) upstream and 300 metres (1,000 ft) downstream from the bridge. The ends of the river banks were curved inward and heavily pitched with stone
The first train moved through the bridge on January 1, 1915 as an engineering test while the bridge was officially inaugurated by Lord Hardinge on March 4 that year. The bridge is an acknowledgement of the architectural genius of Engineer Gayle that went into constructing the bridge a hundred years ago.
There is no architecturally expected life defined for the bridge, but the structural guarantee for the bridge was 100 years according to its engineering study.
The Hardinge Bridge is an amazing achievement in the railway engineering and is a lesson for the students of engineering colleges in Europe and North America. Yet this bridge will have to be abandoned within 14 years from now, meaning snapping of the railway communication between the South Bengal and the rest of the country. As such, construction of a new bridge on either side of the present one is urgent to maintain communication.
But we have not still heard anything from the railway ministry about the issue. This is mysterious.
P.Rozario
Pabna
Congratulations
Chittagong Abahani has completed end of Dhaka’s suzerainty in the country’s soccer arena. Last week, they outclassed Dhaka Abahani Limited 2-0 in the final. For this, we congratulate the club’s players, officials and patrons to attain the splendid success that will inspire Barisal, Khulna, Rajshahi, Rangpur and Sylhet to follow Chittagong.
Now let us request the Bangladesh Football Federation to pay special attention to the Asia Cup Football 2019: Play off match against Tajikistan to be held on June 2 and 7.
Abdullah Akber
Dhaka
