Guwahati: Engineers of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has recently rectified the bearing arrangement of the 56-year-old Saraighat bridge over the Brahmaputra here at Amingaon which reportedly tilted in an earthquake in 2009.

"Bearing" is the arrangement by which a bridge rests on pillars.

Chief public relations officer of the NFR, Pranav Jyoti Sharma, said in a statement on Tuesday that with rectification of the bearing last Friday, the 45kmph maximum speed restriction of trains on the bridge could be lifted soon.

"Our engineers have created a record of sorts as they carried out rectification of the bearing arrangements during a three-hour traffic block on Friday. Two separate teams of engineers and skilled workers were deployed on both sides. Hydraulic and mechanical jacks were installed under the railway girders. With the help of these jacks, the railway girders were lifted as required," said the statement.

An earthquake, measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale, caused cracks in some buildings in Assam.

"While this was not considered unsafe, the bearings in fact needed proper rectifications. The bridge was kept under observation and speed of trains was kept at 45kmph. Rectification of the bearings was indeed a Herculean task as the ends of the bridge girders were to be lifted by about 10cm. Such work was never taken up earlier. The team of our engineers accepted this challenge," said the statement.

The Saraighat bridge, the first to span the Brahmaputra, opened in 1962.