The Howrah Bridge

The Howrah bridge is a steel cantilever thrown across the Hooghly in 1943, officially Rabindra Setu, and it carries what is regularly described as one of the heaviest traffic loads of any bridge anywhere: lanes of buses and trucks down the middle, and two footways that stay packed from before dawn with porters, commuters coming off the Howrah trains and men carrying loads on their heads. It was riveted rather than bolted, and the whole span hangs from two towers with nothing standing in the river itself. Underneath on the Kolkata side is Mullick Ghat, where the wholesale flower market spreads over the steps and the embankment in the early morning.

History

In 1862 the government asked George Turnbull, chief engineer of the East Indian Railway Company, to study a bridge over the Hooghly, and he warned of deep mud and the obstruction to shipping. The present bridge was commissioned in 1943, replacing a pontoon bridge on the same spot and so first called the New Howrah Bridge, and on 14 June 1965 it was renamed Rabindra Setu after Rabindranath Tagore (Wikipedia, Howrah Bridge).

What's there

• The span from the ferry - the full profile of the cantilever from the middle of the river.
• The footway crush - the pedestrian lanes at the morning peak, porters and commuters end to end.
• Mullick Ghat flower market - marigold garlands and cut flowers heaped on the steps below at dawn.
• The river traffic - country boats, barges and the ferries crossing constantly underneath.

When to go

November to February is cool and relatively clear; the pre-monsoon months are hot and hazy. Come at first light, when the flower market below is at full tilt and the footways fill with people off the early trains. Late afternoon from the water is the better light for the structure itself, and the ferry crossing costs almost nothing.

Things to know

Photography from the bridge is officially restricted and guards do stop people, so shoot from the ferry or the ghats instead. The footways are a solid crush with no room to stand still, the noise and exhaust are heavy, and there is nowhere pleasant to linger at either end. The riverbank underneath is muddy and littered.

Nearby

The flower market and the ghats are directly below, and the potters' lanes of Kumartuli are upriver.

Key facts