10th July, 2003
Ministry of Railways  


RAILWAYS TO REBUILD 2700 BRIDGES


Indian Railways have rebuilt 1000 bridges during the financial year 2002-03 as against 611 bridges for the year 2001-02. Of the total 527 distressed bridges across the zonal railways, 341 of them have been rehabilitated during the year 2002-03 and work for rehabilitation of the remaining distressed bridges is on.

In the past, due to paucity of funds rebuilding of bridges has been lagging behind. However, under the recently constituted Special Railway Safety Fund (SRSF) of Rs.17000/- crores, which is a non-lapsable fund, an amount of Rs.1530 crores have been allotted for bridge works and a total of 2700 bridges taken up for rehabilitation.

Indian Railways have 1.2 lakh bridges on its network of 63000 route kms spread across the country. Even though 44 per cent of the bridges are hundred years old they are fit for traffic. All over the world, life of a bridge is governed by its physical condition and not by its age alone.

 
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