DHEMAJI, Oct 22 - A team of NF Railway officials conducted a speed run on the Bogibeel bridge over Brahmaputra river today. The officials conducted a trial run of the rail engine with 15 coaches along the route between Tongani (Dhemaji side) and Dhamalgaom (Dibrugarh side).
According to railway officials, the speed of the train was between 120 km and 140 km per hour. The officials on October 3 last had conducted the first speed test on the route with a rail engine from Dhamalgaon rail station to the southern approach of the Bogibeel.
Earlier, a track machine was run on the bridge on September 20 last to complete some of the track work. NF Railway sources said that they would conduct more tests on the bridge like passing of wagons with maximum capacity (load/weight) soon before final commissioning of the bridge.
Bogibeel bridge spanning 4.94 km is the longest rail-cum-road bridge in the country. The bridge connecting Dibrugarh with Dhemaji is likely to be completed by this year end.
The bridge will usher in a new era of economic development in the region, apart from strengthening national security in the border areas.
Construction work of the rail-cum-road bridge was inaugurated 16 years ago, on April 21, 2002. Late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated the construction work of the 4.94 km-long Bogibeel bridge five years after former Prime Minister HD Deva Gowda had laid its foundation stone on January 22, 1997.
