SB-Sujon:
The Teesta Railway Bridge, built during the British era, is the gateway to Lalmonirhat and Kurigram districts. It is a large-scale railway bridge of Lalmonirhat, the railway department. Although the bridge, built with nuts and bolts, expired 90 years ago, it is still carrying its load with force. The entire bridge shakes when a train passes, but even then this bridge has kept the railway communication of the whole country, including Lalmonirhat-Kurigram-Rangpur, operational.
18 trains are still plying over the bridge every day, as before. Teesta Railway Bridge, built over the Teesta River in the Teesta Mouza of Gokunda Union of Lalmonirhat Sadar Upazila in 1834 during the British government’s rule. The 2,110-foot (643-meter) long bridge was constructed by the then British government’s Northern Bengal State Railway. The bridge’s durability was estimated at 100 years with fishplates, nuts, and bolts.
The current bridge is 190 years old. It expired 90 years ago. Initially, the Teesta Rail Bridge was used only for rail communication with the rest of the country, including Lalmonirhat-Kurigram-Rangpur. During the Liberation War in 1971, the Pakistani invaders damaged a girder of the bridge by bombing.
After the then railway authorities renovated the bridge, the bridge was reopened in 1972. In 1977, the railway and the sewerage department jointly installed 260 steel tiff plates and wooden platforms on the bridge next to the meter gauge line. Along with this, road communication including small and big buses and trucks was started. Locals fear accidents as the bridge is risky due to heavy vehicle traffic. Moreover, even though the train has been running for 90 years, it is still running with a bang, taking risks
On the other hand, out of such fears, the Awami League government started the construction of a new Teesta road bridge on the east side of the Teesta railway bridge in 2006. The work was completed in 2012, and since then buses and trucks and other vehicles have been plying on the Teesta road bridge. Even then, the railway bridge is not at ease. Since then, 18 trains have been crossing the railway bridge every day as a rail connector between Lalmonirhat and Kurigram. Some of the wooden sleepers of the current Teesta railway bridge have rotted and are damaged. Clips have been stolen, and the nuts and bolts of the fishplates used in the two rows of the bridge have rusted.
However, the Lalmonirhat Railway Division of Bangladesh Railways has claimed that the bridge has not become that risky even after 190 years of construction. Rakibul Islam, a college student in Lalmonirhat, said that the Teesta railway bridge is the only hope for people in the northern region for train communication. That too is currently at risk. In this regard, Lalmonirhat Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Abdus Salam said that even though the Teesta railway bridge has expired, there is no problem in train movement. Manpower has been appointed for the maintenance of the Teesta railway bridge.
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