It is a historic day for the Indian Railways as the first-ever freight train made its way across the Bogibeel Bridge, India's longest road-cum-rail bridge measuring 4.94 km, connecting Assam with Arunachal Pradesh. This opens the doors to enhanced connectivity in the North-East, Minister for Railways Piyush Goyal tweeted on Sunday (December 2).

The bridge – the second longest in Asia by some accounts – is 4.94-km-long and 32 metres above the water level of the Brahmaputra.

It has three-lane roads on top and a double line rail in the lower section. Its design is based on a sea-crossing bridge that links Sweden and Denmark.

This bridge connects Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Currently, to journey between Dibrugarh and Arunachal via train, one needs to travel via Guwahati with more than 500 km in a diversion. After the bridge opened, the journey is less than 100 km.