By Manoj Pathak

Patna, May 11 (IANS): A British era rail bridge in Bihar's Kiul connecting the eastern part of India with the rest of the country has been closed after 100 years in operation.

Chief public relations officer of east central railway Rajesh Kumar said, "This bridge was closed permanently on Sunday. Railways has built a new bridge parallel to the 100 year old bridge at Kiul. The operation on the new bridge has begun."

He said "On Sunday, a train carrying railway staff passed through the Kiul-Lakhisarai old bridge for the last time. With this the operation on this historic rail bridge also came to a close. This bridge has been witness to uncountable passengers making way to other parts of the country for 100 years. It is now a part of glorious history of the Indian railways."

The bridge had developed several defects after being in operation for such a long time leading to safety concerns for passengers. For the last several months, the passenger trains plied very slowly and with great circumspection while crossing the bridge. No goods train has been allowed to use this bridge for quite some time.

According to railway officials, the work for the construction of girders of the Lakhisarai-Kiul bridge on the up line was awarded to Hershey Company Ltd of England and for the down line to another company -- Dorman Long Engineering Ltd. Some years back when the defects in the bridge surfaced, the repair work was allotted to M/S Buildworth Construction Company which restored it to a condition in which trains could run up to a maximum speed of 20 km/hour.

"Keeping in mind the growing defects in the old bridge and the future needs of rail transport, a parallel bridge was constructed. With rail traffic starting on the new bridge, it will be smooth sailing from here. Now trains can run at a speed of 100 km/hour on the new bridge."