Published On : Thu, Sep 30th, 2021

Ngp Metro readies longest balanced cantilever bridge in State

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Nagpur: MAHA Metro has notched up another first through the Nagpur Metro project, as it has completed construction of longest balanced cantilever bridge of Maharashtra and one that holds key to East-West connectivity. Located near Anand Talkies in Reach-IV of Nagpur Metro, the project was handled by ITD Cem and construction is in its last leg and is ready for laying of rail network by next month. While the bridge is now inter-connected, the contractor is busy in construction of parapet wall, even as other agency has taken-up work to lay the rail network.

A challenging work was accomplished with a zero accident report and same was key to construction, given the challenges of working over 25,000 Volts high tension line of Indian Railways below. Giving a glimpse of the project to media persons on Wednesday, Arun Kumar, Executive Director, Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) said the construction was completed within a period of two years and three months to be precise.

Ramnath,General Consultant to project, pointed out that one of the stand alone aspect of the balance cantilever bridge is that single largest spanof231meters. Very few such structures are constructed to date in the country including one in Delhi, Lucknow and Kochi. He further said this is one of the icon of Nagpur Metro project and segments launched were of 72 meter, 62 meter and 97 meters. In fact, the casting of 97 meters including the portion of railway lines and that’s where the real challenge lay.

Narrating the difficulties during the construction phase, Bindeshwar Prasad, Project Manager, ITD Cem, listed the COVID-19 outbreak as the most difficult. As the labour panicked and returned to villages bringing them backwasanherculeanand since the balance cantilever bridge required specialized skills, for company this was the worst period. There after also the restrictions owing to pandemic and also ensuring safety of staff without slowing down the construction required very deep and careful planning.

Metro of officials said earlier they had planned for simple open web girder (OWG) bridge but after Railways pointed out their future plans,balance cantilever project was mooted. This also led to changes in design of bridge and its length was also increased from earlier 87 meters to 231 meters and balanced cantilever was finalised.