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.
