Howrah Bridge (Rabindra Setu)

Howrah Bridge is one of the most recognisable places to visit in Kolkata, a steel cantilever bridge over the Hooghly River. Here is what to know about its history, walking across it and the best viewpoints.

Howrah Bridge links Kolkata's Burrabazar area with Howrah railway terminal across the Hooghly River. It was commissioned in 1943 as the New Howrah Bridge, replacing a pontoon bridge at the same spot, and was renamed Rabindra Setu on 14 June 1965 after Rabindranath Tagore, though almost everyone still calls it Howrah Bridge.

Wikipedia describes it as a balanced steel cantilever bridge and says it carries roughly 100,000 vehicles and well over 150,000 pedestrians a day, making it the busiest bridge of its type in the world. Press and engineering pages give its length as about 705 metres, with footpaths about 4.6 metres wide on each side, and the Kolkata Port Trust is named as its custodian.

There is no ticketed attraction here: people come to walk across, to watch the traffic and river life, and to photograph the steel structure, usually from the Kolkata bank, from a boat on the Hooghly, or from the riverside ghats. The Howrah flower market and the Mullick Ghat area sit by the Kolkata-side approach. The footpaths are crowded at rush hour, so early morning is calmer. Take care with cameras and phones in the crowd.