India's longest rail-cum-road Bogibeel bridge

India's longest rail-cum-road Bogibeel bridge, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday, is not only the country's first fully-welded steel bridge but the world's longest incrementally launched steel bridge, infrastructure major HCC said.

The prime minister inaugurated the the 4.94-km-long double-decker strategic bridge, built by HCC, over the Brahmaputra river at Bogibeel near Dibrugarh in Assam.

With the width ranging from 1.2 km to 18 km, the Brahmaputra has been bridged only four times in the past, and HCC holds the distinction of building two of these bridges and has now constructed the fifth, the company said in a statement.

"Built on the Brahmaputra river in Dibrugarh district of Assam, it is the first fully welded steel bridge and the longest rail-cum-road bridge in India. HCC constructed the entire 4.9 km-long superstructure," it said.

Military implications

Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) Chief Public Relations Officer Pranav Jyoti Sharma said almost 75 per cent of the 4,000-km long border that India shares with China is in Arunachal Pradesh, and the bridge will help in logistical support for the Indian Army manning the border.

Bridge will enable the military to speedily dispatch forces to neighbouring Arunachal, which borders China. This has cut the rail journey between Dibrugarh and Arunachal by 750 km.

The bridge can bear the weight of India’s heaviest battle tanks and also allow fighter jets to land.