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The old Saraighat Bridge which was closed around three months back for long-pending repair works will reopen for traffic from Thursday.

The general manager of the N F Railway will formally reopen the old Sariaghat Bridge for traffic at 3:30 pm on Thursday.

Also read: Assam CM sets June 20 deadline for Saraighat bridge repair

This was informed to the media by the public relations officer of N F Railway Nripen Bhattacharyya.

It may be recalled the old Saraighat Bridge was closed for vehicular traffic on March 23 last for repair works. This has caused untold misery of commuters travelling to and from either side of the Brahmaputra. These three months were grim reminder of those days when the new bridge was under-construction and the old Sariaghat Bridge was maintaining two-way traffic becoming a bottleneck resulting in massive traffic snarls.

Also read: Assam: Old Saraighat Bridge to be closed from February 10 for repair

The reopening of the old Sariaghat Bridge has come as a big respite for the commuters.

Notably, the State Government had handed over the old Saraighat Bridge to the N F Railway authorities for repair work. Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal had given June 20 as the deadline for finishing the repair work.

The Saraighat Bridge is a lifeline in terms of connectivity for the people of North and South bank of river Brahmaputra.

Also read: NF Railway rules out any danger to Saraighat Bridge, repair on card

Over 80 identified deck slabs of Saraighat Bridge were replaced in the maintenance work.

After replacing all expansion joints, Asphalt layer was laid over the entire bridge.

The old Saraighat Bridge is the first rail-cum-road bridge constructed over the river Brahmaputra in Assam.

The bridge was built by the Northeast Frontier Railway and was completed in 1962.

The then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru dedicated the bridge and formally named it after the Battle of Saraighat on June 7, 1963.