Jubilee Bridge (India)

For other bridges with the name Jubilee Bridge, see Jubilee Bridge (disambiguation).
Jubilee Bridge
Hooghly New Jubilee Bridge Under Construction

Jubilee Bridge is an important rail bridge over Hooghly River between Naihati and Bandel in West Bengal, India. Jubilee Bridge is flanked on either side by Garifa and Hooghly Ghat stations.

Jubilee Bridge was opened on 16 February 1885 in the fiftieth or jubilee year of the reign of Queen Victoria. The construction started in 1882 and completed in 1885. The Chief Engineer in charge of construction works was Lt Col Arthur John Barry, nephew of Sir John Wolfe-Barry, project engineer of London Tower Bridge.[1] The Bridge was designed by Sir Bradford Leslie, Chief Engineer in India, and Alexander Meadows Rendel. 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 across the Hooghly in Calcutta, which was replaced by Howrah Bridge in 1942, and the Gorai River Railway Bridge near Kushtia in Bangladesh. He was a 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 bridge, constructed entirely by riveting, without any nuts or bolts used in the construction.

Retirement

The old Jubilee Bridge finally decommissioned from service on 17-04-2016, The last train passed through Old Jubilee Bridge being 13141/Teesta Torsa Express. At the same time Rail traffic were diverted through New Jubilee bridge between Bandel and Naihati section of Eastern Railway. The old Jubilee bridge served the people for 129 years and several generations used the service to connect across the River Hooghly. Also, The old Jubilee Bridge has credit of being first permanent crossing over Hooghly which was considered unbridgeable owing to difficult foundation condition at that time.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jubilee Bridge.
  1. ↑ Frederick Arthur Crisp Visitation of England and Wales, Volume 14, London (1906)

Coordinates: 22°54′25.6″N 88°24′16.0″E / 22.907111°N 88.404444°E / 22.907111; 88.404444


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