NAGPUR: After a delay of almost two years due to technical querries raised by Central Railway (CR) and Airport Authority of India (AAI) time to time, the much awaited new 1.1-km-long Chinchbhuvan railway overbridge (ROB) is completed now and it will be opened by Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday. Three ministers of the state government have also been invited for the function.
Work on the structure began in April 2017 and was slated to be completed in March 2019. But in 2020, work on the project was hit as the NHAI had difficulty in meeting simultaneous requirements of CR and Airports Authority of India (AAI). The ROB site is near the Nagpur airport and permission was required from the AAI to launch girders. The AAI provided a time slot between 1.30 pm and 3.30 pm but the CR found it difficult to stop trains in the slotted time frame.
The initial girders’ launch plan was rejected by commissioner of railway safety (CRS) and hence a new plan was initiated where the girders were split to lower the weight. The NHAI split the 55-metre-long girder into two – having lengths of 33 m and 22 m, respectively.
Work of the ROB was completed over three months ago except for the portion above the railway line. Central Railway head office in Mumbai asked the NHAI to change the design for the portion. The NHAI asked Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) to prepare a new design. Work began on the stalled portion in early January after CR approved VNIT’s design.
The new ROB will put an end to traffic jams on the old ROB during peak hours as a large number of people, commuting to Butibori MIDC and Mihan from Nagpur, will use this ROB, completed at a cost Rs 50 crore, along with the old one.