India’s longest rail-cum-road bridge, the Bogibeel Bridge, marked seven years of operation on Thursday since its inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 25, 2018. Located near Dibrugarh in Assam, the bridge has emerged as a landmark of connectivity, progress and national integration in the northeast. Spanning 4.94 kilometres across the Brahmaputra, the bridge links the river’s northern and southern banks, connecting Dibrugarh with Dhemaji. Built as part of a strategic Indian Railways infrastructure project, the bridge has significantly improved transport, trade and defence logistics across the region. By serving as both a rail and road corridor, it has sharply reduced travel time between upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Residents and daily commuters on both sides of the Brahmaputra marked the occasion by recalling the dramatic change in regional mobility. Bhaskar Gogoi, a resident of Dibrugarh, said that ferry crossings earlier took several hours, while the bridge now allows travel to Dhemaji in around 20 minutes, transforming access for families and businesses alike. Constructed at a cost of about Rs 59 billion, the Bogibeel Bridge was dedicated to the nation on Good Governance Day, coinciding with the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, under whose government the project gathered momentum in 2002. The project was executed by Hindustan Construction Company and completed after years of complex engineering work in the challenging terrain of the Brahmaputra river. Officials from the Northeast Frontier Railway said the bridge continues to function as a critical connectivity hub, driving socio-economic development and supporting the mobility of the armed forces along India’s eastern frontier. Calling it more than just a piece of infrastructure, a senior railway official said the Bogibeel Bridge has become a lifeline for the northeast, playing a vital role in regional integration and long-term development.