The Central Railway (CR) has announced the launch of two 61 mtr open web girders of the ongoing Nerul-Belapur-Uran Railway Line project between Jasai and JNPT in Maharashtra.
With this, the work on Phase-II of the project linking the Uran railway line to the Mumbai suburban network has moved to the advanced stage. Of the 27 km stretch of the project, about 12 km till Kharkopar is operational.
The Belapur-Seawoods-Uran suburban railway project that the CR and the City Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) have been constructing has been delayed with a time run of over 216 months.
Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19 pandemic, recently, CR launched two open web girders between Jasai and JNPT by operating a block of three hours.
These 61 mtr open web girders were constructed at the CR engineering workshop in Manmad, and then transported and assembled at the launching site. Each girder weighs 232 tonne.
The launching of girders is a complex job considering there is a line that crosses the Panvel-Jasai-JNPT line. It handles heavy container traffic.
Another dedicated freight corridor line from JNPT to Panvel is also under construction. Two crawler road cranes were used to launch the girders. To ensure safe lifting of the girders, the verticality was maintained using a specially developed lifting frame.
During lifting, rotational movement was monitored by three inclinometres manufactured for the bridge.
The down track web girder was launched on 3 July 2021 and the up track web girder was launched on 12 August 2021. With this launch, the project is now in advanced stage.
Major construction work on the corridor was done during lockdown. This includes cover over platform at Rajanpada, foundation and sub-structure work at Nava-Sheva, Dronagiri and Uran and subway work at Uran.
The Kharkopar-Uran stretch will have five stations, two major bridges, 46 minor bridges, four road under-bridges and four road over-bridges.