Silchar, July 2: Repairs on a railway bridge in the hill section metre gauge track of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), which collapsed recently, got under way this morning. The bridge is located on the vital Silchar-Lumding railway line.

The bridge fell headlong into a 100-metre-deep gorge on June 25, along with seven railway wagons laden with rice and two diesel engines.

Divisional railway manager of NFR’s Lumding division, S.S. Narayanan, today said nearly 100 workers and technical personnel had been deployed to restore the two broken pillars of the bridge, which is over 100 years old.

This 144-metre railway bridge had collapsed along with a goods train, which was ferrying rice belonging to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) in all its wagons.

It had led to the death of seven NFR trackmen.

Though the divisional railway manager did not hazard any guess as to when the repairs would be completed, other sources made it clear that it would take at least a couple of months.

Reconstruction would begin only after the two railway engines and the wagons are hauled up from the gorge on to the hillside.

Railway safety commissioner (eastern region) Balbir Singh, who reviewed the causes of the bridge collapse, wrapped up his probe into this accident yesterday.

The report will outline the causes of the accident and suggest measures for pre-emption of such a mishap in future.