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Saturday, 3 February 2018

STAMPEDE-HIT ELPHINSTONE GETS ARMY HELP FROM DOKLAM


 


BUILDING BRIDGES: 

The Army’s Bombay Sappers, based at Pune and called over on Saturday,  launched two girders for the new foot over-bridge that will link Elphinstone Road and Parel railway stations; the third and final one will be launched on Sunday.

Material for this bridge, and for two other bridges to be built at Currey Road and Ambivli stations, has been brought in from an army store close to Doklam, the site of last year’s 73-day standoff between India and China.. The first, 40m-long girder was launched with the help of a 350-tonne crane in five minutes flat. This is the first time a bailey bridge (a pre-fabricated truss bridge) is being built in India purely for pedestrian movement so that work can be finished speedily by simply loading the structure on girders. 

All three bridges will have the capacity to carry an eight-tonne load (they can carry all types of vehicles except the army tank) and will be made of high-carbon steel that can last for over 50 years.. 

The ones at Elphinstone Road, where 23 lives were lost in the September 29, 2017, stampede, and Currey Road are expected to be opened for commuters by February 15.

Army starts launching girders, will open three FOBs by Feb 15

The Material Has Arrived From Doklam Store

ManthanK.Mehta@timesgroup.com         Mumbai: 

The material for the three bailey bridges that the army is constructing in the city has arrived from a war store on the India-China border, very close to Doklam, the site of last year’s 73-day standoff between India and China. The material for the foot over-bridges (FOBs) —to come up at Elphinstone Road-Parel, Currey Road and Ambivli stations—arrived by train on January 6 .

The army on Saturday launched two girders for the new foot over-bridge that will link Elphinstone Road and Parel railway stations. The first, 40m-long girder was launched by Bombay Sappers with the help of a 350-tonne crane in five minutes flat during a demonstration for the media.. The work was carried out on the section where no trains operate.

The Elphinstone Road-Parel and Currey Road FOBs are expected to be opened for commuters by February 15.
The bridges will have the capacity to carry eight tonnes’ load—they can carry all types of vehicles except the army tank—and will be made up of high-carbon steel that can last for more than 50 years.

Brigadier Dheeraj Mohan, commandant, Bombay Engineering Group and Centre, Kirkee, Pune,  said, “The bridges will be sturdy. For example, there is bridge built in 1993 in Leh where there is heavy snowfall for six months but it is still strong.” Bailey bridge was developed by the British during World War II.

“The cost of the Elphinstone Road-Parel FOB is Rs 8 crore, which is 30-40% higher than what the railways’ would have spent had they done it themselves. The cost is more as the work had to be completed on an urgent basis,” he added..
“One platoon each has been deployed at the three sites. A team of 15 experts has also been called for launching of girders. So far, 80% of work is complete. After the launching of girders, work like building staircase, ramp and roof will be undertaken and completed in 15 days.”

The army is carrying out the bridge work in five phases. The first one involved site recce, soil testing, general arrangement drawing and getting sanctions from an emergency empowered committee. In the second phase, drawings and tenders were finalized and in the third, fabrication work. The four phase is launching of girders and the final phase will be commissioning.

For the army, the work was a challenge as they had limited time and they had to operate without disturbing the train operations. Apart from this, change in alignment of the bridge delayed the work. “It took almost one and a half month to finalise the planning. We began work on the site on December 10 as against the target date of December 1,” Mohan said.

The army was handed over the work by the Raksha Mantri, at the SOS request of the CM of Maharashtra,  who felt helpless due to having no expertise or the willingness to do for the three bridges on an urgent basis in the aftermath of the Elphinstone Road FOB tragedy on September 29, which killed 23 people

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