Rupsha Railway Bridge, Khulna-Mongla port rail line to facilitate goods transportation: India

The Rupsha Railway Bridge and the Khulna-Mongla port rail line will greatly facilitate the to and fro transportation of goods and the enhanced connectivity, says India.

This will also facilitate accessibility to Mongla Port and will improve market access for local businesses including for agricultural produce of farmers in the region.

It is also expected to positively impact tourism to prominent spots in the south-western part of Bangladesh, said the Indian High Commission in Dhaka on Sunday.

Rupsha Rail Bridge, part of the Khulna-Mongla port rail line project being taken up under the government of India Line of Credit (LOC) extended to the government of Bangladesh, was completed on June 25 this year.

The Rupsha Rail Bridge is a 5.13 kms broad-gauge single-track railway bridge constructed by Indian EPC Contractor M/s L&T and has connected Khulna with the Mongla port city via a rail line.

The bridge has been constructed over the Rupsha tidal river, and this was a challenging engineering feat as it required specialized base grouting technology for piling work, reports UNB.

A total of 856 pile foundations were constructed on viaduct sections and 72 pile foundations were constructed for the steel bridge section with an average pile length of 72 m.

The bridge also has additional features such as navigation fender piles upstream and downstream of the pier, for ensuring navigation safety in the river.

The navigational clearance for the main bridge is more than 18 m from Standard High-Water Level (SHWL).

The construction materials for the steel bridge superstructure were imported from India using road, sea and inland rivers.

The government of India has extended four LOCs to the government of Bangladesh worth US$ 7.862 billion.

A total of 42 projects have been taken up under these LOCs so far, of which 14 projects have been completed and the rest are at various stages of implementation.

Disbursements under these LOCs touched the milestone of US$ 1.0 billion as on the closing of the Indian financial year in March 2022 and disbursements are set to touch US$ 1.15 billion soon.