BHUBANESWAR: The Railways has restored a bridge between Borraguhalu and Chimidipalli railway stations in Kottavalasa-Koraput-Kirandul (KK) rail line before the target period. East Coast Railway (ECoR), headquartered at Bhubaneswar, claimed this on Friday.
The bridge (No- 249) had been affected badly after a huge rock near a water fall dropped on pier no-1 on October 6 evening. This train line is running through the dense forest of the Eastern Ghats Mountain. The bridge of the rail line is situated near the waterfall having scenic beauty, around 90 km from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and 120 km from Koraput in Odisha.
ECoR sources said concrete work was done by pumping without the help of manual work by laborers. The bridge was constructed with an expenditure of only Rs 7 crore by using 400 laborers in a record time of 58 days. There was a target to complete the work in 60 days.
"The impact on the pier was so huge that upper part of the pier from hit portion got sheared, separated and moved towards the valley by 1.6 m. This had caused misalignment of track over the bridge as girders over the pier had also moved along with the pier," said a statement by the ECoR.
On the very next day of the incident, a technical team of Waltair division of the ECoR had inspected the damage and recommended the headquarters to dismantle the damaged pier and construct a new one to restore the traffic.
Two agencies were arranged to carry out the work. Huge flow in the water fall at the bridge was diverted to continue the work. "Concrete base for crib staging to temporarily support the 100 feet girder on Visakhapatnam end was completed on October 16. Crib staging was made ready by October 21 and approach road to the bottom of the pier was made ready by October 24," said the statement.
Damaged pier was dismantled between October 24 and November 1. Clearance of ground for foundation, anchor rods fixing and concreting leveling course had been made between November 2 and 6.
Minor adjustment and fixing of bearings under the girder was made thereafter and trial run with tower wagon was made on December 8 resulting commissioning of bridge work in record time. Formal traffic will be resumed from the midnight of December 11, said the ECoR sources.
The bridge (No- 249) had been affected badly after a huge rock near a water fall dropped on pier no-1 on October 6 evening. This train line is running through the dense forest of the Eastern Ghats Mountain. The bridge of the rail line is situated near the waterfall having scenic beauty, around 90 km from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and 120 km from Koraput in Odisha.
ECoR sources said concrete work was done by pumping without the help of manual work by laborers. The bridge was constructed with an expenditure of only Rs 7 crore by using 400 laborers in a record time of 58 days. There was a target to complete the work in 60 days.
"The impact on the pier was so huge that upper part of the pier from hit portion got sheared, separated and moved towards the valley by 1.6 m. This had caused misalignment of track over the bridge as girders over the pier had also moved along with the pier," said a statement by the ECoR.
On the very next day of the incident, a technical team of Waltair division of the ECoR had inspected the damage and recommended the headquarters to dismantle the damaged pier and construct a new one to restore the traffic.
Two agencies were arranged to carry out the work. Huge flow in the water fall at the bridge was diverted to continue the work. "Concrete base for crib staging to temporarily support the 100 feet girder on Visakhapatnam end was completed on October 16. Crib staging was made ready by October 21 and approach road to the bottom of the pier was made ready by October 24," said the statement.
Damaged pier was dismantled between October 24 and November 1. Clearance of ground for foundation, anchor rods fixing and concreting leveling course had been made between November 2 and 6.
Minor adjustment and fixing of bearings under the girder was made thereafter and trial run with tower wagon was made on December 8 resulting commissioning of bridge work in record time. Formal traffic will be resumed from the midnight of December 11, said the ECoR sources.
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