First leg of restoration of Gaddigodam bridge for railway traffic was wrapped up by Central Railway’s Nagpur Division on Monday with laying of two concrete slabs of 40 tonnes each. The pre-stressed concrete (PSC) slabs were lifted and placed adjoining each other to replace the damaged iron girder. Though the skies overhead were overcast, the conditions at Ground Zero were however perfect for a co-ordinated approach that helped for near perfect work that is going to engineer a change in movement of trains henceforth in the section.

 

A block was taken for five hours for placing of two heavy slabs that are now meant to enhance safety on tracks, said railway engineers on spot. Apart from that two retainers, each of them weighing 20 to 30 tonnes each, were also fitted and they were later affixed with the PSC slabs to form an unbreakable block. Under watchful eyes of division's engineers, including Rohit Thawre, Sr. Divisional Engineer (Central); Assistant Engineer (AEN) A B Chaturvedi, K K Rajput, ADEE (TRD) along with Mukund Joshi, Sr. Section Engineer (Works) and D R Piparde, SSE (P-Way) the replacement work was completed. Now in second leg, the same procedure of removal of iron girder on UP line with placement of relieving girder and later putting in place permanent PSC slabs would be undertaken, the engineers stated. These two PSC slabs were cast at Nagalwadi yard of Nagpur Metro and from there transported to the Gaddigodam site. There are two components of bridge, one built in time of British era and cast in stone masonry and second part (it is now dismantled and replaced with PSC slabs) built during 1981 during doubling of Nagpur-Itarsi line, the old timers in division recalled. Meanwhile, after the placement of slabs, ballast was filled-up to brim so that during movement of train on tracks the are able to absorb shocks and later transfer the weight to the retainers and to wall and ground below. Though the replacement work seemed quite simple, the process and brain storming went behind achieving the feat as the construction site presented many challenges to Engineering Branch.

 

 

A two degrees skew made matter worse and since last two decades Railway had been in two minds on how to go about replacement as the iron girders in section was a big safety issue. So when the process of replacement of girders with PSC slabs was carried out smoothly, it provided a sense of gratification for Engineering Branch team that had been toiling on project since October last, it was the time when the Trailer had rammed and taken apart the iron girder. Old timers recalled that the bridge had outlived its utility and was due for replacement and the mishap only hastened the process to replace the same.

 

The bridge has suffered damages nearly four times and atleast on two occasion it was a very very close call as the trucks post ramming had inflicted heavy damage to the iron girders. In the latest incident, the track geometry was severely disturbed and the girder hanged by thin thread and could have proved dangerous had Engineering Branch had not intervened in time. Perhaps the Railway workmanship is such fine that even after such heavy damage the girder did not break into two or was blown to smithereens. Gaddigodam bridge restoration project showcase smooth migration to modern times and proves the resilience of Indian Railways in achieving perfection at times and places where it seems just impossible due to non standard factors in place. Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Richa Khare and Sr. Divisional Engineer (Co-ord) Pawan Patil supervised the restoration work of Gaddigodam railway bridge. Officials from other departments including TRD, S&T, Operating were also involved in micro planning right from taking block to arranging other components. 

 

No heavy vehicles allowed on Gaddigodam RuB Due to new design, the Gaddigodam railway under bridge (RuB) will now be out of bounds for heavy vehicles, said the officials at the spot. Now only light vehicles movement would be allowed through the underpass as PSC slabs are thick and hence the height is reduced by half a metre. The concrete slabs are of heavier weight as on top of it much dead weight as ballast would be spread over it in substantial quantity. Earlier the iron girders were in place and hence there was much head room allowing for smooth passage of trucks, buses and other heavy vehicles. With Trailers carrying heavy containers the height at Gaddigodam proved insufficient for allowing smooth clearance and hence many a times they got stuck into the bridge.