The Ram Jhula consists of two parallel cable-stayed railway over-bridges in

Nagpur Nagpur (; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Nāgapura'') is the second capital and third-largest city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is called the heart of India because of its central geographical location. It is the largest and most populated city i ...

, India. The long bridge crosses the railway tracks north of

Nagpur Junction railway station Nagpur Junction (station code: NGP) is a railway station in Nagpur, in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is an important junction station on the Howrah–Mumbai and Delhi–Chennai trunk line of the Indian Railways. It belongs to the A1 ca ...

. The Blue Line of the

Nagpur Metro Nagpur Metro is a rapid transit system for the city of Nagpur, located in the state of Maharashtra, India. The system consists of 2 colour-coded lines serving 37 stations, with a total length of 38.2 kilometres (23.7 mi). It is the List of ...

runs along the centre of the bridge on the eastern side.

History

A bridge was originally built by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

in 1927 to connect what was then Old Nagpur and New Nagpur that lay across the tracks of the

Great Indian Peninsular Railway The Great Indian Peninsula Railway (reporting mark GIPR) was a predecessor of the Central Railway (and by extension, the current state-owned Indian Railways), whose headquarters was at the Boree Bunder in Mumbai (later, the Victoria Terminu ...

(GIPR, the precursor to Central Railway. The

South East Central Railway The South East Central Railway (abbreviated SECR) is one of the 19 Railway Zones in India. The zonal headquarters are located at Bilaspur and comprises the , and . History This Zone was formerly part of the South Eastern Railway. It was ina ...

and

Nagpur Municipal Corporation Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is the municipal body administering Nagpur, in Maharashtra state in Central India. History The Municipal Council of Nagpur was established in 1864 to govern city encompassing 15.5 km2 and a population w ...

were informed by the British contractors that the bridge had lasted its guaranteed service life and hence be kept out of bounds for heavy vehicles. Subsequently, the

Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Limited, commonly abbreviated as MSRDC, is an Indian public limited company fully owned by the Government of Maharashtra. MSRDC was established on 9 July 1996 and incorporated as a public limi ...

(MSRDC) was handed over the responsibility to demolish and reconstruct the bridge.

Reconstruction

The MSRDC began work in 2006 by building a three-lane cable-stayed bridge parallel to the old bridge. The bridge was built by

Afcons Afcons Infrastructure Limited is an Indian multinational construction and engineering company based in Mumbai. The company is involved in infrastructure EPC projects such as bridges, flyovers, metros, railway lines, tunnels, highways, ports a ...

, a subsidiary of the

Shapoorji Pallonji Group Shapoorji Pallonji & Company Private Limited (SPCPL), trading as Shapoorji Pallonji Group, is an Indian conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Its primary business interests include construction and engineering, infrastructure, real estate, ener ...

. As per the plan, the old bridge would be demolished once the parallel bridge was open to traffic following which a second three-lane bridge would be built, bringing the total number of lanes to six. However, a dispute arose between MSRDC and the

Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited ( operating as Maha Metro) is 50:50 Joint Venture company of Government of India and Government of Maharashtra headquartered in Nagpur, India. The existing ''Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Limited (N ...

(MahaMetro) over the alignment of the Blue Line of the

. MahaMetro sought permission to build the metro between the two bridges but the MSRDC refused. In 2016, the Nagpur bench of the

Bombay High Court The High Court of Bombay is the High courts of India, high court of the States and union territories of India, states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily ...

asked Maharashtra Chief Minister

Devendra Fadnavis Devendra Gangadharrao Fadnavis (born 22 July 1970) is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra since 5 December 2024 with Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar as his deputies, and previously held this positi ...

to resolve the matter. Subsequently, MSRDC and MahaMetro agreed to integrate the two structures. The last of the second bridge would be built by the latter with two levels with the metro at the upper level before proceeding towards the railway station.

References

{{coord, 21.1535, 79.0894, type:landmark_region:IN, display=title Transport in Nagpur Cable-stayed bridges in India Railway bridges in India