Howrah Bridge

Home | Kolkata Tourist Attractions | Howrah Bridge

The Howrah Bridge is a famous bridge spanning over the Hooghly River and connecting the city of Howrah to its twin city, Kolkata (Calcutta). Originally named the New Howrah Bridge, it was renamed as Rabindra Setu on 14 June 1965, although it continues to be known as Howrah Bridge.

Although a total of four bridges are located on the Hooghly River, Howrah has become the most famous amongst them and also the symbol of Kolkata and West Bengal. The Nivedita Setu, Vidyasagar Setu and Vivekananda Setu are other bridges on the river. Kolkata being a metropolitan city has huge number of motor vehicles and traffic and the Howrah Bridge successfully bears their weight in addition to weathering the storm from the Bay of Bengal region. It is also the sixth longest bridge of its kind in the world.

It was built between the periods from 1937 to 1943 and is basically constructed without nuts or bolts being a cantilever truss bridge. It previously had a tram route although currently is used as a road bridge. Also known as the gateway to Kolkata, the Howrah Bridge during the World War II facilitated military transportation between Kolkata and the industrial town of Howrah. The Howrah Station is regarded as one of the busiest railway stations of the world.

Swinging at a height of 90 meters above sea level, the bridge is 705 meters long and 97 feet (30 m) wide. It is said that the bride expands one meter a day during the summer season. The bridge is eight-lane and almost 80,000 vehicles and 1, 00,000 pedestrians pass through it every day. Make it a point to visit Howrah bride while visiting Kolkata to witness both its engineering marvels and historical significance on display.