The Hindu : National : New bridge near Nalgonda to be ready soon

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Tuesday, Nov 01, 2005

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National

New bridge near Nalgonda to be ready soon

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: A new bridge, to replace the one that was washed away in Saturday's flash floods near Nalgonda, will be built between seven and 10 days, according to Railway General Manager Thomas Verghese.

"Now that the coaches have been removed and all bodies recovered, work on the bridge can get on at a brisk pace. We have planned a five span bridge in place of the old one," Mr. Verghese, Southern Railway GM, who is also holding additional charge of South Central Railway, said over telephone from Hyderabad.

Asked about the Bitragunta line, which was also washed away near Nellore earlier last week, he said one line had already been restored and the other line would function with a `line block.' It may require a couple of months to construct another bridge there. In the wake of these developments, he had asked the Southern Railway to start resuming some of the cancelled services.

Mr. Verghese had a miraculous escape himself last Saturday. The GM's special, in which he was proceeding to the Bitragunta site for inspection, was the last train to cross the bridge near Nalgonda, which was washed away in a couple of hours after his special crossed it in the dead of night.

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