Work to complete second leg of Khapri RoB restarted
   Date :27-May-2020

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Staff Reporter :
 
Khapri Railway Overbridge to be completed by end of July 
 
Two sets of composite steel girders were placed in position as work restarted to complete the second leg of Khapri Railway Overbridge (RoB) by end of July. The Railways during last two days oversaw the positioning of two girders having 55 metres span over the track. Each of the girders weighs 61 tonnes and it was arduous task that was successfully executed under searing heat . The project of RoB is being executed by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the contract is awarded to D P Jain's firm. The project got stuck after its initial launch scheme got rejected by Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) and hence a new scheme was initiated wherein to overcome the problem the girders were split to lower the weight.
 

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Now the contractor ensured that girder was split into two having 33 metres span and 22 metres span. However the problem for the contractor was striking a balance between Airports Authority of Indian (AAI) and Central Railway's Nagpur Division. The Khapri area falls within the runway 22 of AAI and as per their schedule they could provide slot from 1.30 to 3.30 pm to enable launching of girders and for railways also stopping train movement in the section was an arduous task. For Railways however the ongoing disruption in running of trains due to COVID-19 concerns provided a much needed breather and they readily provided block in Khapri section enabling two works simultaneously. The railway have provided 18-days block for railway under bridge (RuB) to connect Khapri station and for second section of Khapri RoB that would end congestion on Wardha Road.
 
The Khapri section is common to trains moving on Grand Trunk and Howrah-Mumbai routes and is perennially busy. As per information, the third girder would be lifted and placed on the piers on Wednesday thereby ending any further need for blocks in the Khapri section for RoB work. Thereafter remaining one girder of 55 metres span is over non railway section. A 22 metres span would be launched separately for which block is not required. As per NHAI officials post completion of placement of girders the deck slab work would start.
 
Once that is completed the Railways would go for proof load to determine that the slab can be the necessary weight. Senior railway officials Pawan Patil, Sr. Division Engineer (Co-ord), Ashutosh Shrivastava, Sr. Divisional Operating Manager (Sr. DoM), Pankaj Dhaware, Sr. DEN (Central) are supervising the work. At field level A B Chaturvedi, Assistant Divisional Engineer (South) directed the working of J K Sinha and Gopal Pathak, Senior Section Engineers (RoB) during launching of composite girders. From NHAI Abhijit Jichkar, PDE-PIU-2, Swapnil Kasar, Technical Manager, were also present during launching of girders.