Mumbai's WR launched first girder of Delisle Bridge At Lower Parel

In a major boost to infrastructural upgradations and with a view to enhance the safety in train operations over Mumbai suburban section, Western Railways (WR) has successfully undertaken the launching of a girder of Delisle Bridge located at Lower Parel. This work was undertaken by the Construction Department of WR and was successfully completed o­n Wednesday, June 22, 2022 during the block period taken for this work.

According to an official statement released by Sumit Thakur, Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway, a major milestone was achieved with the launching of the longest (90 mtr) & heaviest (1040 MT) girder with single span 65 degree skew ever launched in Western Railways. This girder is first of the two girders to be launched at Delisle Road Over Bridge, Lower Parel. It is also pertinent to mention that it is for the first time o­n WR that synchronised displacement controlled strand jacks has been introduced. In connection with girder launching work of Delisle Road Over Bridge at Lower Parel, a Power and Traffic Block of 03.30 hours are being undertaken taken o­n all lines at Lower Parel from June 18, 2022 for five days, without having any major traffic repercussions. A team comprising of 15 engineers of railway and agency along with consultant’s engineer were continuously monitoring the work. A total of 8 supervisors and 102 labours were deployed round the clock in this mammoth task.

Giving more details about the o­ngoing work of Delisle ROB, Thakur mentioned that the design of the bridge is complex as it is not a straight road. The bridge is 89.89 mtr long, consisting of 3 lanes of 11 mtr and 1.8 mtr footpath. The ROB has a skew of 65 degree with railway tracks and located at the north end of Lower Parel station.

The bridge is being constructed with Open Web Girder (OWG) design and hence it cannot be lifted and directly placed above the tracks. Two girders, each weighing 1040 MT will be placed, out of which o­ne has been launched and the second o­ne will be placed by September 2022. The Open Web Girder is being lifted using heavy duty jacks and placed o­n rolling girders. It will then be pulled every day by few meters, before eventually getting placed o­n the new substructure already constructed. High Quality structural steel (E-450 grade) has been procured while Stainless steel (SS-550) grade were used in reinforcement bars in substructure. Also, the superstructure has been coated with special anti-corrosive paint which is having corrosion resistance equivalent to cold galvanizing coating. The Design and drawing of the superstructure were approved by RDSO owing to non-standard open web girder.

After completion of the launching of girders, the work o­n laying the road surfaces will begin immediately. BMC will also begin the work o­n building the ramps so that significant progress can be achieved as soon as second Open Web Girder gets launched.

Thakur stated that Delisle ROB of MCGM at Lower Parel is a key connector in the city. It is effectively the o­nly pathway to the Lower Parel office district for rail commuters who live in the eastern suburbs. These commuters travel by train upto Currey Road station and use this bridge to cross over into Lower Parel to reach Commercial Compounds such as Kamala Mills, High Street Phoenix and Peninsula Park, etc. The bridge is also used by pedestrians who cross from Lower Parel’s east to west and vice versa. It is also a point of entry/exit for commuters from Lower Parel railway station, o­ne of the most crowded in Mumbai’s suburban network. The ROB is also an east-west link for motorists, with 1,200 vehicles using it every hour, as per a conservative estimate.

Thakur further mentioned that the Delisle ROB was found unsafe in safety Audit in July 2018. It was decided that the work of dismantling and rebuilding of Railway portion will be done by Western Railway and the work of approaches dismantling and rebuilding will be executed by MCGM. Railway had taken up the dismantling work of span covering over five railway suburban tracks and completed in record 5 months period in February 2019. Dismantling of abutments couldn’t be taken up for want of removal of encroachments by MCGM which was done in May 2019 and work of dismantling of abutments were completed in June 2019.