Hooghly New Jubilee Bridge Under Construction

A view of Jubilee Bridge from the Hooghly Imambara complex

The Jubilee Bridge () is a former

rail bridge A railway bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whic ...

over the

Hooghly River The Hooghly River (, also spelled ''Hoogli'' or ''Hugli'') is the westernmost distributary of the Ganges, situated in West Bengal, India. It is known in its upper reaches as the Bhagirathi. The Bhagirathi splits off from the main branch of the G ...

between

Naihati Naihati is a city and a municipality of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). Naihati Municipality ...

and

Bandel Bandel is a city in the Hooghly district of the Indian state of West Bengal. It was founded by Portuguese Empire, Portuguese settlers and falls under the jurisdiction of Chandernagore Police Commissionerate. It is a part of the area covered by ...

in Kolkata,

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It provided an important connection between Garifa railway station and Hooghly Ghat railway station. The Jubilee Bridge was opened on 16 February 1885 in the

Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria The Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria was celebrated on 20 and 21 June 1887 to mark the Golden jubilee, 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. It was celebrated with a National service of thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Serv ...

. Construction began in 1882 and was completed in 1887. The Chief Engineer in charge of construction works was Lt Col

Arthur John Barry Lieutenant Colonel Arthur John Barry (1859-1943) was an English civil engineer and architect of the late 19th and early 20th century. Early life Arthur John Barry was the fourth child of the architect Charles Barry, Jr. and his wife Harrie ...

, nephew of Sir

John Wolfe-Barry Sir John Wolfe Barry (7 December 1836 – 22 January 1918) was an English civil engineer known for engineering Tower Bridge over the River Thames in London which was constructed between 1886 and 1894. He was the youngest son of architect Sir C ...

, project engineer of the London Tower Bridge.Frederick Arthur Crisp ''Visitation of England and Wales'', Volume 14, London (1906) The Bridge was designed by Sir Bradford Leslie, Chief Engineer in India and

Alexander Meadows Rendel Sir Alexander Meadows Rendel, (3 April 1829 – 23 January 1918) was an English people, English civil engineer. Early life Rendel was born in Plymouth, the eldest son of the engineer James Meadows Rendel (engineer), James Meadows Rendel and ...

. Its steel was manufactured by Hawks Crawshay of Gateshead in England and James Goodwin of Motherwell in Scotland. Bradford Leslie also designed the floating

pontoon bridge A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, is a bridge that uses float (nautical), floats or shallow-draft (hull), draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the support ...

across the Hooghly in Calcutta, which was replaced by the Howrah Bridge in 1942 and the Gorai River Railway Bridge near Kushtia in Bangladesh. He was the son of the American painter Charles Robert Leslie, ultimately Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy in London. The Jubilee Bridge is noteworthy in that it is a

cantilever truss A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using structures that project horizontally into space, supported on only one end (called cantilevers). For small footbridges, the cantilevers may be simple beams; however, large cantilever bridges designed ...

bridge, constructed entirely by riveting, without any nuts or bolts used in the construction.

Replacement and retirement

The Jubilee Bridge was decommissioned from service on 17 April 2016, the last train to pass through it being 13141/ Teesta Torsha Express. At the same time rail traffic was diverted through Sampreeti Bridge, the new bridge between

and

sections of the Eastern Railway, that has been constructed beside the Jubilee Bridge. Jubilee Bridge served the people for 129 years, and several generations used the service to cross the River Hooghly. The bridge has the distinction of being the first permanent crossing over the Hooghly, which had been considered unbridgeable owing to difficult foundation conditions at that time. The new bridge, Sampreeti Bridge, was inaugurated in 2016 after work started in around 2004. It is the first

continuous truss bridge A continuous truss bridge is a truss bridge that extends without hinges or joints across three or more supports. A continuous truss bridge may use less material than a series of simple trusses because a continuous truss distributes live loads ...

in India.

References

External links

India Railways Fan Club gallery
Railway bridges in India Bridges in West Bengal Buildings and structures in Hooghly district North 24 Parganas district Bridges completed in 1887 1887 establishments in British India 2016 disestablishments in India Railway bridges in West Bengal Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria {{india-bridge-struct-stub