''Havelock Railway Bridge'' a colonial era monument; awaiting additional funds!!

The Havelock Bridge over the Godavari.indiatimes.com

Havelock-bridgete, AP legraphindia.com

The 3,460-metre long with  56-span, Havelock Bridge, also called the Old Godavari Bridge, at Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, is one among the popular and most useful railway bridges  built by the colonial rulers. It was the earliest among the three bridges that spanned the big Godavari river. 

Deeply interested in exporting raw materials to England from the hinterlands in India, the British government embarked  on  key infrastructure projects - construction of highways and railroads connecting many towns with the nearest city with harbor facilities.   

Havelock Bridge (Godavari Old Bridge) wiki.fibis.org

Once an important sturdy bridge made of stone masonry with cast-iron girders on the busy Kolkata-Chennai rail line,  was opened to traffic by the Raj in 1900  (work began on Nov. 11 1887) and named after Sir Arthur Elibank Havelock, the  then Governor of  Madras Presidency.

With the intention of saving the old bridge - Havelock Bridge, the Andhra state government is  seriously planning to rebuild the bridge  over  river Godavari with   a pedestrian pathway for the people. The famous bridge extending from Rajahmundry East Godavari to Kovvur;   was  built under the direction of  Frederick Thomas Granville Walton, Engineer-in-chief with support from  executive engineers R.A.Delanougerede, F.D.Couchman, J.E.Eaglesome.The Butterley Company of Ripley, Derbyshire fabricated the cast-iron girders for the bridge. 

he Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway(M&SMR flicker.com

he Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway(M&SMR)en.wikipedia.org

Above image:   Founded on 1 January 1908 by merging the Madras Railway and the Southern Mahratta Railway,,initially, its headquarters was at Royapuram in Madras. But it  was later shifted to a newly constructed building at Egmore, which was inaugurated on 11 December 1922. On 1 April 1944, its management was taken over directly by the Government of India................................

In 1901 the southern section of the East Coast State Railway - which included the ‘Havelock Bridge’ - was transferred to the Madras Railway(MR) ; later  renamed Madras (North-East) Railway; becoming the Madras-Waltair NE Mainline of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway(M&SMR) in 1908.In 1946 complete ‘re-flooring’ of the bridge  was done, replacing the wooden longitudinal and wooden sleepers with a steel system.

The old bridge having been  decommissioned in 1997 for many reasons, the Godavari arch bridge was built as a replacement for Havelock bridge linking  Chennai and Howrah; three km long with 56 spans each  156 ft apart. it is being managed by the  South Central railway  that converted the vintage bridge into a historical  monument In  Dec, 2016  Rs. 8 cr was sanctioned by the state  for beautification, etc. The pedestrian path, an addition to the bridge is quite useful for the visitors to spend their time in a casual manner. The railway ministry is yet to sanction additional funds  to improve he national monument. Rajahmundry Municipal corporation had a plan to allot funds the national monument.  

The bridge has been constructed using a prestressed bowstring girder-type concrete arch with a prestressed concrete box girder acting as the tie. It has 28 twin arches of identical spans, designed to share 80% of dead load and live load.

https://blog.trainman.in/blog/most-famous-railway-bridges-of-india/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Godavari_Bridge

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/visakhapatnam/havelock-bridge-to-turn-into-tourist-spot/articleshow/56108149.cms?from=mdr

ttps://www.telegraphindia.com/india/havelock-bridge/cid/1510126