Bibek Debroy: A bridge too far

Ulta Pul, which collapsed, was just one of the railway's 262 distressed bridges in urgent need of repair.

There is a railway bridge over the Yamuna that is maintained by Northern Railways, though it also caters to road traffic and, therefore, the Delhi Administration pays for part of the upkeep. The bridge cost Rs 16,16,335 to build. That's an amazing figure, but the year was 1867, when the bridge was built by the East India Railway. India has 1,20,000 (1,19,984 is the exact figure) railway bridges and 54,000 are more than 100 years old. 75,000 are more than 80 years old. The original builders and engineers typically gave these bridges fitness certificates for 100 years. In 1999, there was a Railway Safety Review Committee under the Chairmanship of Justice H R Khanna. This identified 527 bridges as weak and distressed, 262 being identified as distressed. That is, they were in urgent need of repair. The Ulta Pul (though an over-bridge) in Bhagalpur belonged to the distressed category. Since 2003-04, there has been a Railway Safety Fund and Rs 17,000 crore has been provided for repair work, though not for bridges alone. Unfortunately, repair and maintenance of existing infrastructure has rarely been a priority for any railway minister, including perhaps the present one. The priority is always starting new trains and railway lines.

It is not surprising that budgetary allocations for bridge repairs are repeatedly returned. In 2003-04, Rs 60 crore was returned under this head. In 2004-05, the Railways Ministry initially asked for Rs 761 crore for bridge repairs, but eventually decided that Rs 488 crore would suffice. In 2006-07, it is proposed that Rs 595 crore will be spent on repair and replacement of old bridges. There is no shortage of money. Nor is it surprising that since 1986, there should have been more than 250 mishaps involving old bridges. Here is a longish quote from the 2004-05 Annual Report of the Commission of Rail Safety. "Various aspects of railway bridges were highlighted in the Annual Report of the Commission for the year 2000-01, which covered rehabilitation, under-water inspection, rebuilding of MG bridges strengthened for retention after conversion and rechecking of waterway of bridges in case of doubling and gauge conversion projects. Railway Board in its comments had stated that there are about 1.2 lakh bridges on Indian Railway system out of which 44 per cent are more than 100 years old and 74 per cent are more than 60 years old. Railway Board though highlighted that the life of a bridge is determined on age-cum-physical condition and that action is taken to rehabilitate/rebuild the bridge when it shows signs of distress."

"It was also brought out in the Railway Board's comments that Rs1,530 crore out of SRSF have been earmarked for the rehabilitation/rebuilding of distressed bridges, cast iron pile bridges and early steel bridges in the first instance over the next 5 to 6 years. The provisions of IRS Bridges Substructure and Foundation Code were also mentioned in regard to allowable stresses, etc, required for checking the substructure for introduction of new types of locomotives, rolling stocks, train composition and gauge conversion, etc. In regard to the need for rebuilding of MG bridges retained during gauge conversion, the Railway Board advised that a committee comprising of four Executive Directors of Railway Board was constituted to review all the gauge converted sections or sanctioned gauge conversion projects with respect to their fitness of running of BOXN traffic, heavier WDG-2 locomotives and in some cases even for heavier brake down cranes. The Commission's views were that old bridges which were overstressed or distressed should be rebuilt. It was also suggested that those old bridges whose substructure is not available for visual inspection or whose completion drawings are missing should also be rebuilt, as in such cases it is not possible to certify adequacy of these structures under Clauses-5.16.2.2 and 5.16.2.3 of IRS Substructure and Foundation Code. It was also suggested that effective means of underwater examination to find out the soundness of the substructure of bridges is brought in force without any more delay."

"It is a fact that foundation details and completion drawings of a vast majority of railway bridges are not available with Zonal Railways. The foundation and substructure of large number of bridges remain underwater round the year and their integrity is suspect as no satisfactory means are available for their inspection. Heavier locomotives and wagons are being introduced in the system and 100 kmph freight trains are already running. The Zonal Railways are certifying the safety of bridges without any rationale or calculations, while approaching the Commissioners of Railway Safety for sanction of running of this rolling stock. They are not doing enough to retrieve the Completion details of the bridges either through physical verification or by making sincere search for the Completion Drawings. .... On the apprehension of the Commission that how could a Bridge Certificate be given by the Zonal Railways for introduction of heavier axle loads and higher speeds in a section without the help of completion drawings of bridges, the Railway Board replied that the detailed procedure for sanction of running of new rolling stock has been issued by RDSO. However, it is not understood by the Commission as to how can a procedure prescribed by RDSO for running rolling stock over a bridge, be helpful when the foundation details are not available because without knowing the structural details and the dimensions of various components of the bridge, the stress calculations, etc., cannot be made. The outcome of the Committee of four Executive Directors set up by Railway Board is also not known."

"Though alarmed by the tragedy that occurred due to the collapse of Kadalundi bridge on 22nd June 2001, Ministry of Railways sanctioned certain pilot projects more than 2 years ago, the progress made in this endeavour appears to be quite slow. Over the last few years, Ministry of Railways, has permitted overloading of wagons over and above the carrying capacity for which the wagons were initially designed and cleared for running, without following the laid down procedure and without a speed certificate from RDSO, making the old bridges which were designed for much lighter loadings, all the more vulnerable. The Commission, therefore, reiterates its earlier suggestion that Ministry of Railways should take urgent action for rebuilding of those over-100 years old bridges, whose foundation details and condition of substructure below water level is not known and whose visual inspection is not feasible, nor it is being carried out."

Can there be a more severe indictment? You can, of course, be perverse and argue that it was precisely because Ulta Pul was being abandoned and dismantled that the Bhagalpur incident happened.Thirty-five dead and 19 injured is not much, so far as railway accidents go. The contractor will be suspended, three assorted engineers will temporarily be suspended, there will be promised ex gratia payments that may never reach the families and the Railways will chug along. Bhagalpur will soon be forgotten. Like the infamous blindings.