Digha–Sonpur Bridge

About

The Digha–Sonpur bridge (Hindi: दीघा-सोनपुर पुल) or J. P. Setu (Hindi: जेपी सेतु) is a rail-cum-road steel truss bridge across river Ganga, connecting Digha Ghat in Patna and Pahleja Ghat in Sonpur. It is named after Indian independence activist Jayaprakash Narayan. It provides easy roadway and railway link between north and south Bihar. It is 4,556m in length and the second longest rail-cum-road bridge in India, after Bogibeel Bridge in Assam. Rail service was inaugurated on this route on 3 February 2016. This is second railway bridge in Bihar after Rajendra Setu that connects North Bihar to South Bihar. Indian Railways has constructed two railway stations on either sides of the bridge – Patliputra Junction (PPTA) and Bharpura Pahleja Ghat Junction (PHLG).

Rajendra Setu was the only bridge that carried railway tracks across the Ganges in the state of Bihar till 3 February 2016. It was opened in 1959. On 22 December 1996 Former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda laid the foundation stone for the construction of the railway bridge over Ganga at Sonepur. Ram Vilas Paswan was the railway minister at that time, but the physical work on the bridge began in 2003 when Nitish Kumar was the railway minister. The Digha–Sonpur Ganga bridge was initially sanctioned as a rail bridge; the project was converted to a rail-cum-road bridge in 2006. Total cost of the project was put at ₹13,890 million, out of which ₹8,350 million was for the rail part, and ₹5,540 million was for the road part. It was expected to be completed in five years. The construction work on the bridge was completed in August 2015, and a trial run of a diesel locomotive was undertaken on the bridge in the same month. Digha–Sonpur Bridge project was executed by Ircon International and the bridge was completed at ₹1,570 crore (US$160 million). The electrification work on the Patna-Sonepur-Hajipur Section was completed by July 2016. The doubling of railway tracks on the bridge started in May 2018, and is being done at an estimated cost of Rs 156.09 crore and will be completed by December 2019. Construction of the bridge being completed, the inaugural commercial run on the rail bridge took place on 3 February 2016. The Digha–Sonepur rail bridge was officially inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 12 March 2016. The second rail track is still to be laid. A new railway station Digha Bridge Halt (दीघा ब्रिज हॉल्ट) was constructed 3 km north from Patliputra Junction, near Danapur Bankipur road and opened for passengers on 25 November 2017. It saves time for rail passengers going to Gandhi Maidan at least 1 hour. The road bridge was inaugurated on 11 June 2017. Link roads to connect National Highways on both ends are completed. The total length of construction, including approaches, is 20 km. It is a K-truss bridge. There are two rail tracks (up and down tracks) and a two lane road. Its south link road which is also called as AIIMS- Digha elevated road (Patli Path) completed in December 2020.

In 1996, survey work for the proposed bridge was initiated by the Railways at three possible sites – Digha–Sonepur, Gulzarbagh–Hajipur and Ict Ghat–Sonepur. Ram Vilas Paswan was then the Union Railway Minister and he lent his support to the Gulzarbagh-Hajipur site, as Hajipur was the constituency from which he was elected. Lalu Prasad Yadav, then Chief Minister of Bihar, lent his support to the Digha–Sonepur site. In the wake of the conflicting support of the political heavy weights, disturbances broke out at Sonepur. One person was shot dead. Many experts opined in favour of building the rail bridge adjacent to the Mahatma Gandhi Setu, the road bridge connecting Hajipur with Patna. However, political opinion prevailed and the Digha–Sonepur site was selected. ₹24 million was spent on the survey alone. The proposal to construct the bridge was mentioned in the union budget of 1997-98 and at that time the estimated cost was ₹600 crores. The bridge was finally sanctioned during the term as Union Railway Minister of Nitish Kumar, present Chief Minister of Bihar. The scope of work was expanded when Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Union Railway Minister.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.