Ganga Rail-cum-Road Bridge, Patna

Ganga Rail-cum-Road Bridge in Patna is an ambitious project of the Indian railway. The bridge will connect Digha in Patna to Sonepur on the other side of the Ganges. The total length of the bridge including the approach road is 19 km. The length of the bridge is 4.556 km (4556 meter). It will be one of the longest rail-cum-road bridge in India when completed. The bridge is being built by the East Central Railway at an estimated cost of approximately Rs. 3000 crore. IRCON International Ltd. is the constructing agency. The project cost escalated as a result of delay due to various reason. The project was sanctioned initially as a rail bridge in 2001. However in 2006, the rail-cum-road was approved. The project when completed will connect Patna with Sonepur though railway. It will also play a vital role in easing the load on the Mahatma Gandhi Setu.

The bridge will have 36 Spans of 123 meter each and 2 Spans of 64 meters each. The railway track is at the bottom while road is at the intermediate level. The width of the road deck is 9.075 meters with 1.5 meter footpath on either side of it. The design of the superstructure is diamond type triangulated steel truss. The work was started from both the ends in 2012. The expected time of completion of the bridge has been put around the end of 2014, however, some delay may put the time further ahead.

The first trial of Rail track was undertaken on January 1, 2015.

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