Bogibeel Bridge. (@rajeshmore35220/image via twitter)Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate India's longest rail cum road Bogibeel bridge on 25 December, the day is marked as good governance day and is the birth anniversary of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It will boost connectivity between south and north banks of the Brahmaputra river in eastern parts of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, Financial Express has reported.
The bridge is 4.94 km long and only a little over 20 km away from Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border. It will connect Dibrugarh and Dhemaji districts of Assam. There are two railway lines on the lower deck of the bridge and a three-lane road on top. Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju tweeted a video with a beautiful view of the bridge.
The Bogibeel bridge will save time in both road and rail travel. As of today, the train journey from Arunachal Pradesh to Dibrugarh in Assam takes a detour of 500 kilometres via Guwahati. Now with the Bogibeel bridge, the trip will take less than 100 km. Also, Delhi to Dibrugarh train commute time will come down by three hours to 34 hours.
PM H D Deve Gowda laid the foundation stone for the bridge in January 1997, but the work started only in April 2002 after former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated the construction work. Since the beginning, the challenging project has missed several deadlines. However, Modi government expedited the project to improve connectivity and a test run with freight train was conducted.
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