Bridge Collapse in India

A bridge collapse by itself, is perhaps not that newsworthy, unless it impacts your daily commute. A news search on "bridge collapse" restricted to the past seven days (or so) returns many pages of data: The info on the collapse of the Irang Bridge in India is returned; details are below. A bridge collapsed in China, killing 8. Another collapsed in Virginia dumping 22 train cars and 2000 tons of coal into the Roanoke River. A bridge under construction in India collapsed. And many others.

What caught my eye about the bridge in question is that it is a Bailey Bridge, and described in at least one article as being "old." Bailey bridge over Barak river collapses in Manipur, one dies

The incident took place in Taobam village when the Irang bailey bridge caved in around 7 am, a senior officer said.

"The bridge collapsed when a 10-wheeler truck carrying sand from Dimapur in Nagaland was passing through it."

The Bailey Bridge was developed by Sir Donald Bailey in 1936. It was ignored until after the war started. They are made in prefabricated sections, small enough to be hauled to the field by available trucks, and assembled manually. They were instrumental in winning WWII, since it meant that the Germans could blow up bridges, but not stop the advance of the Allies. The ones used by the Allies were designed to carry our tanks, well the ones from that era, anyway. The Bailey Bridge: The Bridge That Defeated Hitler.

At least, that’s according to the testimony of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery who, to put it bluntly, wrote:

“Bailey bridging made an immense contribution towards ending World War II… I could never have maintained the speed and tempo of the forward movement without large supplies of Bailey bridging… Without the Bailey Bridge, we should not have won the war. It was the best thing in that line that we ever had.”

As for the "old bridge" that collapsed in India, in one place I saw it listed as being under 10 years old. But it may have been newly constructed with old parts. That is the point of Bailey's design. The bridges can be redeployed. At least one article says that the bridge was showing signs of deformation before it snapped. Who is responsible for NH-37, asks TDC. Though the Transporters and Drivers Council is currently suing the people it deems responsible for the bridge on behalf of the dead driver's family, and the people currently stranded along the highway in question.

The previous article, and others, are full of criticisms of the National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited, which is the organization that is responsible for the bridge in question. It is either part of, or contracted to, The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, which is basically the Department of Transportation for all of India. It isn't clear, at least not to me. The information in the articles doesn't describe the Ministry, or the state of transportation in the India, in the best terms.

And then there is also a glimpse as to the state of law and order in India, or parts of it anyway.

Many companies are reluctant to take up the bridge construction work as they are aware of how militants abducted BIPL engineers and officials and demanded ransom.