Trains ordered to cut down speed

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In just 10 years after the completion of the construction work of the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge, numerous cracks and other defects on it have put train services including the long-awaited Dhaka-Kolkata service over it in limbo.

Realising the risk, the government has directed officials concerned to set a 20-kmph (kilometre per hour) maximum speed limit for the nine trains that currently cross the bridge 18 times a day.

The Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge was made open to public in 1997. Though the bridge was built at a cost of Tk 4,000 crore with an expected service life of 100 years, in less than 10 years in service, in 2006, several cracks were detected across its north lanes. The cracks later expanded to the south lanes as well.

Apart from the cracks that are gradually widening, many nuts and bolts used for holding the expansion joints of the bridge have come off, said officials concerned at Bangladesh Railway and Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge Authority.

The direct train service between Dhaka and Kolkata is supposed to commence soon and whether this added load would deteriorate the condition of the bridge further is yet to be ascertained.

Of the eight expansion joints on the bridge, nuts and bolts (iron ring leaders) of expansion joint number 7 had come off on November 18, 2007. Vehicular movement is going on over the joint after the authorities placed three pieces of heavy-duty steel plates over it.

Expansion joint number 8 is also in bad shape, said officials concerned working at the bridge authority.

Following newspaper reports about detection of the cracks on the bridge, an investigation committee formed by the government in its report last month said that a number of cracks have been found in 62 out of 1,262 segment joints of the bridge. The cracks were 0.7mm to 0.9mm wide at the time and those have been widening everyday at an alarming pace. The committee also detected that four out of eight expansion joints of the bridge were wobbly or loosened.

Earlier, in the first week of January 2008, a report submitted by Tofazzal Hossain, Wahiduzzaman, Abul Kalam Azad, all assistant directors of the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge Authority, and Nur Sadique of Marga Net One Ltd, the operation and maintenance operator of the bridge, noted that vibrations caused by trains and heavily loaded vehicles have led to the development of the cracks.

Following the report, two engineers of the bridge authority — Liakat Ali, executive engineer, and Abu Sufian, superintendent engineer — visited the site on January 23. They also expressed similar views on the matter.

The government is planning to appoint consultants by the end of this month to identify the actual reasons behind the cracks and other defects. The government would repair the bridge as per recommendations of the consultants.

The government is also considering taking legal steps against Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co Ltd, the South Korean contractor that built the bridge.

Dr Muhammad Mahbubur Rahman, the communications secretary, told journalists at his office on Monday that the issue of the bridge was discussed at a recent board meting of the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge Authority.

“We are thinking about taking legal steps against the construction firm that constructed the bridge and we are consulting the law ministry to see if legal steps can be taken,” he added.

Sources at the bridge authority said Hyundai has claimed that the design and the construction of the bridge had no flaws and therefore, they would not bear the responsibility for the cracks that developed on the bridge.

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