Goyal reviews work progress of bridges and tunnels
The iconic 1,315-m Chenab Bridge at a height of 359-m above river bed will be the highest railway bridge in the world when completed in March 2021 as part of the 272-km Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail link Project (USBRL), a National Project linking Kashmir to rest of the country, according to a project review report.
Arch launching of Chenab bridge is in progress – 34-m of the arch is planned for closure in March 2021 while and 516-m out of 550-m have been completed, according to the review report, released on 26 Jan 2021.
The launching of Chenab Bridge’s segment: 373 MT (29m) done in Dec 2020 and 380 MT (24m) on 21 Jan 2021). Arch launching of 3,262-MT was carried out in post-COVID lockdown.
The project has 37 bridges of 7-km – 26 major bridges and 11 minor bridges. work is in full swing on 15 of these bridges while 12 major bridges and 10 minor bridges have been completed.
A total of 161-km of the 272-km USBRL has been completed and commissioned, as per the project review by Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal on 25 Jan 2021.
Out of 272-km of USBRL Project, work has been completed and commissioned on 161-km. The 25-km Udhampur-Katra was commissioned in July 2014, the 118-km Quazigund-Baramulla was commissioned in Oct 2009 and the 18-km Banihal-Quazigund was commissioned in June 2013. The
Work on the 111-km intervening stretch of Katra-Banihal section is in progress with 87% or 97.6-km of 27 tunnels as well as 8 escape tunnel of 66.4-km. Thus, 164-km of tunneling is being constructed on Katra-Banihal section.
The Indian railway’s first cable stayed bridge is also being constructed on Anji Khad, for which 120-m Main Pylon out of 193-m has been cast while an ancillary viaduct portion of Anji Bridge has been completed.
Anji Bridge – Main Pylon concreting: 12-m lift for U/S (Upstream) & 4-m lift for D/S (Downstream) cast was done in Dec 2020 and 4-m lift for D/S cast on 21 Jan 2021.
The 69-m of Main pylon has been cast and ancillary viaduct portion completed in post-COVID lockdown. Thus, 120-m of Main Pylon out of 193-m has been cast and ancillary viaduct portion of Anji Bridge has been completed.
Launching of 24-m at Bridge 39 in Reasi area was done in Dec 20, followed by 48-m in 21 Jan 2021. Thus far, the overall launching of 191-m has been achieved.
The 141-m launching of Bridge No. 43 in Bakkal (Reasi) area has been completed = 21.5-m in Dec 2020 and 20-m on 21 Jan 2021.
Twenty tunnels of 83-km of tunnels have been completed. Three main tunnels of 55-km out of the eight 66.4-km have also been completed.
Total Tunnel Mining of 1,720-m (MT+ET) was done in Dec 2020 and 927-m on 21 Jan 2021. Thus, the overall tunnelling of about 136-km out of 164-km tunnelling has been completed.
T74R Tunnel near Banihal area in Ramban district: a 7.4-km Escape Tunnel was made through on 5 Dec 2020 and the 8.6-km Main Tunnel made through on 3 Oct 2020, making it the second longest tunnel on USBRL project after the 11.2-km Pir Panjal Tunnel.
The 5.2-km main tunnel of T2 in Reasi district was made through in the month of Aug 2020.
Electrification of Banihal-Baramulla section:
The 136-km railway line from Banihal to Baramulla has already been commissioned and its electrification work is in progress. All tenders have been awarded and work is under progress. The target for completion of Railway Electrification works in Banihal-Baramulla section is March-2022.
Due to inclement weather has affected work progress in this segment of the project. There has been frequent landslides and washouts, snowfall and rainfalls in Jan 2021 in Reasi and Ramban districts, cutting off the National Highway 44 and other approach road to the project sites.
However, all safety precautions were taken at sites and work is progressing at all fronts, said the review report.
Expressing satisfaction on the progress the project Minister Goyal said the completed project would give the region a good transportation system and connection to the rest of the country all the year round.
He called upon the engineers working on the project to expedite the remaining portion on mission mode, and instructed them to complete the procurement of materials and permission procedures on time so that there is no delay in the construction work. #project #tenders #procurement #supplies /fiinews.com
