Second Mahanadi Rail Bridge

{{Short description|Bridge in India}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}

{{Use Indian English|date=January 2016}}

{{Infobox Bridge

|bridge_name = Second Mahanadi Rail Bridge

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|carries = Kharagpur-Puri line, Howrah-Chennai main line

|crosses = Mahanadi River

|locale = Cuttack

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|length = {{convert|2100|m}}

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|open = 2008

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|coordinates = {{coord|20.4852|N|85.9105|E|format=dms}}

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The Second Mahanadi Rail Bridge is a rail bridge over the Mahanadi near Cuttack in the Indian state of Odisha.

The first Mahanadi Rail Bridge was opened on 1 January 1899. It had 64 spans of {{convert|100|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} each, on wells {{convert|19|ft|6|in|m|abbr=in|sp=us}} in diameter sunk to {{convert|60|ft|m|abbr=in|sp=us}} below low water level.{{cite web| url = http://cris-ser.cris.org.in/CRIS/general/book_rrb/east_coast_railway.htm|title = East Coast Railway |access-date = 2011-07-06}} The engineer in charge of construction of the first Mahanadi Rail Bridge was William Beckett, who won a gold medal from the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1901 for a paper he presented on the bridge construction.The Bridges over the Orissa Rivers on the East Coast Extension of the Bengal – Nagpur Railway, W. T. C. Beckett, M. Inst. C.E., Paper No. 3250, 1901

The {{convert|2.1|km|mi|abbr=on}} long Second Mahanadi Rail Bridge was built at a cost of {{INRConvert|120|c}} and commissioned in 2008. The bridge has been designed for a train speed of 160 km per hour (99.41 miles per hour). "Adequate steps" are said to have been taken to ensure the bridge can withstand earthquake shocks.{{cite news| url =http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/27/stories/2008072756890300.htm| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20081010023746/http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/27/stories/2008072756890300.htm | url-status =dead | archive-date =10 October 2008 |title = Second rail bridge over Mahanadi commissioned |access-date = 2011-07-06 | location=Chennai, India | work =The Hindu | date=27 July 2008}}

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