There are plans afoot to replace the century-old Kalurghat Bridge over the Karnaphuli River in Chattogram with a steel-truss double-deck structure, similar to the design of the newly launched Padma Bridge.
Bangladesh Railway (BR) has chosen the Padma Bridge-like design among five options proposed by Korean consultants in the interim report of the feasibility study on the Kalurghat Bridge, said sources.
The interim report was shared with the BR last week. The proposed two-level bridge will have double-line dual gauge rail track on the lower deck and two-lane road on the upper deck, with an estimated cost of US$587 million, as per the report.
According to the report, the length for the rail bridge would be 9.82 kilometres and the road approximately 3.10 km.
However, officials said final selection of the design would be taken by the prime minister as the BR was planning to hold a meeting with the Prime Minister's Office soon.
The BR has been planning to replace the British-era Kalurghat rail-cum-road bridge since 2012 after it became risky to operate both train and road traffic on the structure. The bridge was initially built for metre-gauge rail operations but road traffic was allowed over the track from 1962.
To replace the bridge, the BR has so far conducted three feasibility studies but could not reach an agreement on the final design. The first two studies were done with the navigation height of 7.62 metre - the height was later increased to 12.2 metre as per the prime minister's directive.
The latest feasibility study started under the Korean Economic Development Cooperation Fund in 2021.
Earlier, two studies were conducted with the Economic Development Co-operation Fund but were not approved due to the height-related issues alongside options involving the train operations.
According to the interim report of latest study, double-deck rail-cum-road bridge with suspension/cable stayed having double-line dual gauge rail track, single-deck extradosed with double line dual gauge rail track and two-lane road and single-deck extradosed bridge with single-line dual gauge rail track and two-lane road.
The rail-cum-road tunnel is the fifth option in the proposal, which was, however, rejected by the authorities concerned due to a high cost. The cost is estimated at $2.2 billion. The lowest cost was estimated for a single-deck extradosed bridge with single-line dual gauge rail track and two-lane road - this was not accepted by the officials either.
The Kalurghat Bridge is located in between the Chattogram rail station and Dohazari station and its replacement is necessary as the BR is also developing a new corridor from Dohazari to Cox's Bazar with the target to establish direct train communications from Dhaka to the world's longest sea beach city.
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