How D&H Secheron helped the construction of Bogibeel Bridge

Published on 08 December 2021

8 min

To define a bridge, it is a structure that is built to overcome physical obstacles like a water body or a valley. Most bridges are huge and take years altogether to be constructed and of course, no bridge can be constructed without extensive use of welding equipment and welding material.

The river Brahmaputra is the widest river in not just India but also in the entire Asian subcontinent. This makes the process of constructing a bridge over this ferocious river, even more difficult and time consuming.

5 bridges have been created over this river, in different areas. The one we will speak of in this article is the Bogibeel bridge in the Dibrugarh district of Assam. It is a Rail-cum-road bridge, i.e., Motor vehicles like cars, trucks, etc. can cross the bridge from the upper part of the bridge and the lower part of the bridge is made for trains to pass.

Bogibeel bridge’s length is 4,940.5 meters! It is India’s longest rail and road combined bridge. About 5 million people get enhanced connectivity in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. It also provides easier access to North Assam and thus, a simpler path to reach Arunachal Pradesh as well.

Among the few contractors involved in the construction of Bogibeel bridge in Assam, one was D&H Sécheron Electrodes Pvt. Ltd. How deeply were we involved? Well, from the ground-up! All the welding material supplied for the construction of the bridge was provided by D&H Sécheron Electrodes Pvt. Ltd; because we are the best welding material and welding wire manufacturers.

So what welding material was used for the construction of the bridge? Solid wires( MIG) and submerged arc wires or SAW wires were used in the making of Bogibeel Bridge, Assam.

This rail-cum-road bridge is India’s first fully welded bridge. Instead of using material like bolts, that have to be maintained from time to time, welding was used. Why? Because traffic load stops the periodic checks to be halted and this is where welding comes right in! It eliminates the chances of any of this as a good weld, made with strong welding material like that of D&H Sécheron Electrodes Pvt. Ltd; is permanent.

Over and above the welding, concrete was used. Welded bridges are known to make the structure of a bridge serve its purpose for a longer period of time as well as save a lot of maintenance cost, since the bolts and rivets, used otherwise, do not have to be replaced. An estimate for Bogibeel bridge’s longevity is that of 120 years. Doesn’t that sound amazing?

A bridge’s construction is done when many stakeholders come together. A superstructure like this cannot be made in isolation. Just how D&H Sécheron Electrodes Pvt. Ltd. supplied the flux core wires and SAW wires, HCC, DSD Brockenbaugh (a German company) and VNR Infrastructures came together as a joint venture to construct the bridge.

Before any of this began, Bhartia Infra constructed the embankments to make way for the bridge. Even before that, RITES, Rail India Technical and Engineering Services (State-owned consultancy), took over the pre-construction R&D work to create a blueprint of the Bogibeel bridge and come up with an effective plan to create the bridge.

Construction of the bridge was time consuming and daunting for a vast river like Brahmaputra, is magnificent! This is because it shows the sheer power of welding technology!

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