A team of army engineers has been deployed to build a floating bridge so that railway tracks can be repaired to restore train services between the Northeast and the rest of the country.
The bridge is being built along the tracks that have been lying suspended since August 11 when the overflowing Mahananda washed away the soil beneath. The 60-metre stretch of the tracks between Sudhani and Telta stations in Bihar is the only stumbling block to restoring the train services.
The floating bridge, known as the Kruppman bridge, is supported on inflated pneumatic rubberised floats and will enable machines like excavators to carry and unload boulders on the riverbed to fill up the void under the railway lines. Until now, boulders were being dumped manually by workers.
Sources said the railways had sent a request to the army to pitch in.
The railways had earlier said they expected the train services to resume by August 28. An official had, however, expressed doubt if the repairs would be complete by August 28.
