The old Saraighat bridge here will remain closed for 90 days after Magh Bihu or January 15 to carry out “massive” repair work.

A statement released by the Northeast Frontier Railway said the repair will be done in the road deck portion. It said there is no danger to the bridge as highlighted by a section of the media in the last few days.

“NF Railway would like to categorically state that there is no danger to the bridge and is planning to carry out a massive repair of the road deck portion in the next few days,” the statement said.

“The work will be done round-the-clock. As many as 80 identified deck slabs of Saraighat bridge are going to be replaced. After completing the slab, an asphalt layer will be provided over the bridge after replacing all expansion joints,” the statement said.

Saraighat rail-cum-road bridge, which was commissioned in 1963, handles a huge volume of road and rail traffic everyday.

NF Railway said although the steel girders of the bridge have been constantly maintained according to the schedule and works like steel painting and greasing of supports have been carried out, the road portion could not be adequately attended to because of the constant presence of large volume of road traffic.

The old concrete joints on road slabs had started giving trouble, resulting in falling off of concrete from the slab. As an immediate measure thick steel plates have been provided to protect the deck slab and also to provide a smooth ride. Such steel plates have been provided at five locations. For permanent repair, the contract for work execution was finalised by the railways in November. The selected agency for the repair work has arranged necessary tools, equipment, machinery and required manpower.

“For repair to be carried out, vehicular traffic is to be stopped for 90 days, as the process will have multiple stages requiring fixing of new high strength steel and concrete,” the statement said.