No train has trundled across them for 30 years, but the 19th century Mahaica/Mahaicony railway bridges have now found new resting places, as the government and the engineers working on the new road alignment project have decided to carefully move them 20 feet from their current locations.

Along with the Georgetown station in Kingston and the Abary railway bridge they are the only remnants of South America’s first railway which got rolling in 1848 between Georgetown and Plaisance. Rosignol was connected by 1900.

The Mahaicony bridge has already been moved down- river and the Mahaica bridge will be moved up-river some time next month. The cost of moving each of these bridges - which is included in the road alignment project - is US$196,000. The project is financed by the International Development Bank (IDB) loan programme, which involves the improvement of streets and bridges from Timehri to Rosignol.

In June 2002, it was still unclear whether the bridges were to be preserved. The Ministry of Works was willing at that time to pay for their dismantling but could not fund their re-siting and re-assembly.

At that time, the Mahaica bridge was to be relocated to the MMA/ADA compound, but according to an engineer, it would have cost a lot of money and time, as each piece would have had to be cleaned and the structure reassembled carefully.

Sunday Stabroek recently joined Prime Minister Sam Hinds on a visit to the new location and was informed by Uwe Gruesbach, Senior Project Manager of German company, Dywidag that it had reinforced the bridges with steel beams across the bottom because the old work was riveted and had no bracings. The Mahaica bridge was lifted approximately six feet, placed on a roller-system and taken to its new site.

What can be done now to preserve them? A source from the National Trust told Sunday Stabroek, that it was undertaking a survey and looking into possible activities to preserve and highlight these historical structures. This could include placing plaques on the bridges. (Angela Osborne)