India's new advanced rail-road bridge opened

India's longest rail-road bridge, that crosses the Brahmaputra River, was officially opened on December 25, 2018.

The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, launched the first train route from Tinsukia to Naharlagun. 

The bridge was constructed to connect strategic locations by crossing the Brahmaputra River. The railway distance between Dibrugarh and Itanagar will be reduced by 705 km. while the correspondent road distance by 150 km. The bridge will also provide an alternative route from Dibrugarh through north bank of Brahmaputra to Delhi and Kolkata.

The project that used a unique incremental launching technique is the world's longest incrementally launched steel bridge and India's first fully welded warren truss girder type steel bridge. It comprises of 39 spans of 125 m. and 2 spans of 33 m. It is designed to resist earthquakes of more than M 7.0. Moreover, a sophisticated material protects its framework from humidity.

The construction was approved in 1997 and was supposed to last for 6 years. However, the project began a decade later and was recently accomplished due to delays and economic loss with the final cost being more than 3 times larger than estimated.

The bridge will provide a link between north and south banks of river Brahmaputra in the eastern region of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh reinforcing the national security of east India.