RailEnquiry

The report “Restaurant on wheels fails to materialise” (June 29, some editions) referred to the 270-year-old railway bridge across the Kabini. A reader pointed out that since the Railways came into the country during 1853 (159 years ago), this railway bridge cannot be 270 years old.
Special Correspondent R. Krishna Kumar clarifies: According to archival materials, extracts of which were referred by the Railway authorities, the Kabini bridge, near Nanjangud, was built by Dalvoy Devaraj around 1735 and was meant for bullock carts. The metre-gauge railway track was laid across it in 1902 after strengthening it. Hence, the bridge over which the railway track was laid is reckoned to be more than 270 years old. This bridge was abandoned in favour of a concrete bridge constructed parallel to it in the 1970s.The bridge itself is over 270 years old, but the railway bridge is 110 years old.