State government officials are hopeful that the commissioner of railway safety will okay the proposed Majerhat bridge by this month.
The commissioner met PWD engineers last week and had a detailed discussion on the safety aspect of the proposed bridge.
The PWD is the project’s implementing agency.
He wanted to know if a cable-stayed bridge was the best alternative and what would happen if the cables were to give away, an official at Nabanna, the state secretariat, said.
The construction of the proposed bridge is still to start for want of the commissioner’s “go-ahead”.
There has not been any progress except for a few pillars, a PWD engineer said. The proposed bridge was supposed to be inaugurated in December.
In November, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had written to railway minister Piyush Goyal, seeking his intervention in ensuring the bridge was built at the earliest.
A portion of the Majerhat bridge had collapsed in September 2018.
“We have explained in detail all safety-related features about the bridge to the commissioner. He has sought some more documents which we will soon submit,” the PWD engineer said.
Last week, the commissioner had invited the PWD for the first time to discuss the design, safety and others details such as the load-bearing capacity of the proposed bridge.
The commissioner wanted to know why a cable-stayed bridge was better than a standard bowstring bridge, which the railways had proposed, the engineer said.
He wanted to know the actual load-bearing capacity of the cables and why the PWD has set it at 40 per cent of the total capacity, the engineer said. “It was a clear and frank discussion and there were no ambiguities on any point,” the official at Nabanna said. “He has asked for a mathematical model, which we are working on. We hope to get the permission by this month.”
The commissioner of railway safety comes under the civil aviation ministry. The commissioner is empowered to grant safety clearance to railway projects.
The proposed 500m-long bridge is cable-stayed with a 22m width for four lanes for two-way traffic movement.
