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With a width ranging from 1.2 km to 18 km, the Brahmaputra river has been
bridged four times in the past. HCC holds a distinction of building two of
these bridges and has recently completed construction of the 5th bridge at
Bogibeel, near Dibrugarh in Assam.
There are a lot of legends and prophesies floating with the current of the mighty
Brahmaputra River as it tracks its course from Tibet to Bangladesh, roaring down
through narrow chasms and gobbling up land in its pursuit to reach the sea. A
river as wide as an ocean, blood red with stories of sacrifice and patricide,
unusually for a river it is male in its aspect, and unusually for India, it is not a holy
river but often referred to as the Old Man River.
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The Brahmaputra is not a river that can be tamed easily; it is a river that
demands respect and submission. Indeed, rare to find a reference to this river
without the adjective "mighty' attached to it. In Tibet, where the river leaps to
freedom from the great glacier mass of the northern-most chain of the
Himalayas, it is known as Tsangpo, meaning 'purifier'. Sweeping and leaping
through chasms, plunging through narrow valleys and collecting various
tributaries along the way, the river twists and turns and executes hairpin bends
before it spills into the North Eastern states of India. Here, the river collects the
Dhanasri River and becomes the Brahmaputra, son of Brahma. Rolling into the
alluvial plains of Bengal, the Brahmaputra rushes to meet the River Goddess
Ganga. United, they dissolve into each other and spread fingers into the Bay of
Bengal, feeding and destroying the fragile river islands that exist in the area
known as the Sunderbans.
Bridging History
Bridging the Brahmaputra has always been a daunting task. The river has been
traditionally considered extremely difficult for bridging due to various reasons
including its ferocious and unpredictable behaviour, high currents and turbulent
waters, widespread erosion of the banks, very short working period, and high
seismicity and remoteness of the area.
With a width ranging from 1.2 km to 18 km, the Brahmaputra river has been
bridged four times in the past. HCC holds a distinction of building two of these
bridges and has recently completed construction of the 5th bridge at Bogibeel,
near Dibrugarh.
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Saraighat Bridge in Guwahati was the first rail-cum-road bridge over the mighty
Brahmaputra river in Assam. Although the first railway line in Assam came up in
1881, yet Brahmaputra was not bridged by the British. It was bridged by HCC by
building the 1.3 km long bridge at Saraighat near Guwahati. This bridge was
opened to traffic in April 1962 by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. In 2017, a
new 1.49 km long road bridge was constructed at Saraighat.
Kolia Bhomora Setu at Tezpur was the second bridge constructed by HCC. This
pre-stressed concrete road bridge connects Sonitpuron in the north bank, with
Nagaon district in the south bank. The length of this bridge is 3015 m, and its
construction went on from 1981 to 1987.
Naranarayan Setu is the third bridge constructed over the Brahmaputra river.
This double-deck bridge has a railway track on the lower deck and a road on the
upper deck. It has a length of 2.284 km and connects Jogighopa, a town in
Bongaigaon District in the north with Pancharatna, a town of Goalpara District in
the south. This bridge was inaugurated on April 15, 1998, by Prime Minister Atal
Bihari Vajpayee.
Bogibeel Bridge
Bogibeel Bridge is a combined road and rail bridge in the Dibrugarh district of the
north eastern state of Assam. The 4940.5 m long bridge is the longest bridge of
its kind in India. The bridge provides connectivity to nearly five million people
residing in Upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. It also gives easy and direct
access to the upper Assam from the rest of the country through the North bank,
in contrast to the current route through Guwahati in the South bank, which is long
and tortuous.
HCC in a joint venture with DSD Brouckenbau GmbH, Germany, and VNR
Infrastructures Ltd, received a ₹987 crore order from the Northeast Frontier
Railway to construct the superstructure of Bogibeel Rail-cum-road Bridge in
November 2011. HCC's share in this order is 51%, DSD Brouckenbau GmbH is
20%, and VNR Infrastructures' is 29%. Bogibeel Rail-cum-road Bridge is a
double decked bridge with two railway tracks on the lower deck and a 3-lane
road on the upper deck, flanked by footpaths on each side. Highway alignment
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will meet the top level of road deck of the bridge suitably beyond the abutments
while the rail alignment will continue in the same line and level.
Location
Bogibeel is the fifth rail-road bridge on the Brahmaputra river in Assam. Due to its
location, the bridge is of strategic importance to India as it significantly enhances
India's ability to transport troops and supplies to its borders in Tibet Arunachal
Pradesh. Being in an area of intense rainfall, construction has been significantly
challenging.
Rail Connectivity
Project History
Bogibeel is India's first and only fully welded bridge construction. It is also for the
first time that European codes and welding standards were adhered to in the
construction of a bridge in India.
Normally, in a steel bridge construction, bolts and rivets are used, which need
periodic replacement due to shear failure over traffic loads. Construction of
trusses using welding makes the connection between the components a
permanent one, thereby eliminating the above failures. A welded bridge not only
reduces maintenance cost but also adds to the longevity of the superstructure. It
is estimated that Bogibeel Bridge is durable and serviceable for 120 years.
Construction Methodology
For the construction of this mammoth bridge, HCC has set-up huge facilities on
the left bank of the river, and had three sequences of Fabrication, Assembly and
Launching.
Fabrication: The Fabrication Shops of 2000 MT per month capacity were set-up
with two parallel Bays. The team had assembled customized platforms in-house
to fabricate and fit various joints employing Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW). To
ensure an error-free welding - Magnetic Particle Testing, Dry Penetration Testing
and Ultra Sonic Testing were deployed. A specialized Beam making CMM
Machine from Italy was used for the first time in India for fabrication of Box and I-
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Sections using Submerged Arc Welding (SAW) procedure. A blasting gun was
used to achieve the surface roughness of SA 2½ before applying paint. The
intermediate and final spray coatings are performed in a highly controlled climatic
chamber with spray guns.
1000-ton hydraulic jacks and strand jacks linked with the substructures were
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used for moving the steel truss over the pillars. Two sets of steel cable strands
were anchored to the end cross beams of the Truss and hauled by hydraulic
jacks. The Truss slides over the Launching Bearing with the help of Sliding
Plates, which were inserted at one end and taken out at the other, thereby
moving the Truss towards its desired position. In order to limit the required
launching forces, the superstructure was pulled in 4 launching segments of 10
spans each. Thus, the superstructure was pulled over the pillars just like a train
of ten spans. With each span weighing 1700 MT, the pulling force required was
equivalent to pulling 26 Airbus A380 with maximum take-off weight over 650
tons, put together without any wheels.
Finally, the launching bearings were replaced by final bearings. The tracks were
laid, and the road was constructed adapting RCC construction. After fulfilling the
electrical and other ancillary requirements, the assignment was completed.
Supply-Chain Management
acquires materials and products as per demand. This is a key component of its
supply chain.
Steel plates and sections were procured mainly from three sources i.e. JSPL,
Essar and SAIL. Of these 80,000 MT, approximately 20,000 MT (25% scope)
was categorized as ODC (Over Dimension Cargo) and attracted special
measures for transport to the project site from the sources in Hazira and Angul,
which were more than 3200 km and 1800 km away, respectively. The average
lead time of procuring these materials is 4 months. Procurement plan was made
according to minimum order quantity required thickness-wise, also estimating
future market price trends as the order lot sizes ranges from 3500 MT to 10000
MT.
Spherical bearings were inspected at Germany, shipped to China for load testing,
and then shipped to Bhopal for the refitting of tested bearings, and then finally
shipped to project site. The lead time of such consignments is 6 months. Average
daily consumption of welding wire was 2000 kg per day; grinding wheels around
5000 per day; Argon + Co2 shielding gas more than 200 cylinders per day; O2
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cylinders around 500 per day; and around 50 BMCG cylinders per day. Besides
4,50,000 Shear studs were imported from Nelson, USA, (lead time of 3 months),
High Strength Friction Grip bolts of around 7,00,000 quantity were manufactured
at different sources in India, and Diamant MM1018FL gap compensation were
imported from Germany (lead time of 3 months). The team achieved perfect
synergy between each of these project elements' procurement and uninterrupted
construction flow.
HCC has time and again undertaken complex infrastructure projects that are
benchmarks in India’s infrastructure journey. Bogibeel Bridge is an engineering
masterpiece which has many technical firsts to its name. It is India’s first fully
welded Warren truss girder type steel bridge. Not only has an incremental
launching technique for superstructure erection been used for the first time in
India, it is also the world’s longest incrementally launched steel bridge. HCC is
proud to create such marvels for the nation.
The HCC team through its sheer determination and grit completed this project, as
bridging the mighty Brahmaputra has always been a daunting task. The river is
extremely difficult to bridge due to various reasons including its ferocious and
unpredictable behaviour, high currents and turbulent waters, widespread erosion
of the banks, short working period, high seismicity and the sheer remoteness of
the area.
Most 2D Software
The fabrication of various components, using reinforcement bars and plates, has
become an integral part of infrastructure projects. Advanced software is used to
determine the optimum sizes of bars and plates before procurement, thereby
reducing wastage and volume.
At the Bogibeel project, the HCC team used 'Most 2D' automatic nesting software
to generate efficient two-dimensional cutting plans for fabricating the steel
superstructure for the bridge. The nesting technology was based on advanced
cutting algorithms specifically designed to optimise the cutting layouts in
shearing. The software generates high-utilisation layouts, significantly reducing
waste, and maximizes productivity.
Spherical Bearings
Railways have traditionally used steel rocker-roller bearings for bridges with
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larger spans. For the Bogibeel Bridge, the initial plan was to use Pot-PTFE
bearing with metallic pins and guide bearings. However, it was found that the
size of bearing required for taking the anticipated load cannot be accommodated
in the pier cap, hence, Spherical Bearings were used.
Spherical Bearings with 4 support system as per European bearing standard EN-
1337 have been used in the Bogibeel Bridge. A total of 164 bearings have been
used to construct the bridge. Each span is supported by 4 Spherical Bearings.
These bearings had been manufactured by Maurer AG, Germany, in accordance
with the design finalized and approved by Ramboll / RITES.
Seismic Restrainers
Location of Bogibeel Bridge falls in Seismic Zone-V, which in Indian history, has
been most vulnerable to earthquakes with magnitudes in excess of 7.0. In order
to offer good stability to the heavy spans (1700 MT), they are provided with
seismic restrainers.
This arrangement works like male & female connection with female pockets
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embedded onto piers and male parts arrangement on the span. For precise
lowering of the span such that male joint fits into the female connections before
the final lowering of the span on the permanent bearings, HCC team devised a
unique circular slider frame made of stainless steel with jacks arrangement.
With this, the exact movement to fit the Seismic restrainers and final lowering of
the heavy spans on permanent bearings were achieved.
The project boasts of benefits such as strategic and speedier access for
defence forces to the Indo-China border, which means faster movement of
troops and heavy weaponry.
Provides better connectivity to nearly five million people inhabiting the
upper Assam region and Arunachal Pradesh. Saves travel-time between
Tinsukia in Assam to Naharlagun of Arunachal Pradesh by more than 10
hours, thereby saving fuel and travel cost. The 4.94 km bridge now
connects the south bank of Brahmaputra river in Assam's Dibrugarh district
with Silapathar in Dhemaji district close to Arunachal Pradesh, and cuts
down the distance between the two by about 400 km.
Its biggest benefit is the travel time that it will save: as of now, a train
journey from Arunachal Pradesh to Assam's Dibrugarh requires a 500 km
detour via Guwahati. Now, the journey is reduced to less than 100 km.
Also, the train journey between Delhi and Dibrugarh has reduced by 3
hours.
Tourist places of Arunachal Pradesh will become more accessible and give
a fillip to the tourism industry. The bridge also cuts down the distance to
the border with China by 10 hours.
The bridge benefits the intra/inter-state transportation of medical patients
seeking treatment in Dibrugarh district, which houses the prestigious
Assam Medical College. Currently, if any emergency of super speciality
kind arises along the northern bank, patients have to rely on the
cumbersome boat ferries.
The bridge is part of the infrastructure projects conceived by the
government of India to improve logistics along the border in Arunachal
Pradesh. By connecting two very important highways of Assam - NH37
and NH52, the bridge enhances the intra-state trade ecosystem. At
present, cargo takes 10 to 12 hours to reach its destination. The Bogibeel
Rail-Road link reduces trans-shipment time and takes maximum 2 hours,
thus saving cost of transportation, fuel, and the time taken.
At 32 meters above water level of the mighty Brahmaputra river, it is hailed
as an engineering marvel of the country as construction of such a mega-
bridge in a seismically sensitive zone was a herculean task for the
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