Chennai: The Chennai Railway Division completed a major bridge work in the Chennai Beach- Villupuram section between Guduvanchery and Vandalur.
According to Southern Railway, a breach occurred at this location following heavy rains in December 2015.
Subsequently, the railway decided to construct two additional minor bridges and one major bridge at this place. The work was sanctioned in 2017-18 at an approximate cost of Rs 2.3 crore.
While the two minor bridges were completed last year, the major bridge work was completed an hour ahead of the 14 hour Line Block/Power Block permitted for the construction 23 June. To finish the construction of the bridge, 12 precast reinforced concrete cement boxes of clear size 9.15 x 2.65 metres – of length 1.5 m and weighing 70 tonnes each – were placed with the help of a crawler type crane.
A press release said, considering the repercussion to passenger train traffic, the work was planned on two weekends with night blocks to reduce passenger inconvenience.
Making use of this block period, workers installed a temporary girder for a subway at the section. Also, at a level crossing between Chengalpattu and Ottivakkam in Chennai Egmore-Villupuram section, temporary girders were erected for subway work.
At Chennai Egmore, supporting braces for foot over bridge was done. The press release further noted that in Chennai Egmore-Villupuram section, 3,700 metres of track between Vandalur and Guduvanchery was detressed and six rail joints were welded. Tie tamping of track and ballast cleaning was also undertaken in the section between Guduvanchery and Kattankulatur stations. Attention to various track conditions including water stagnation prone places and greasing was done in the section.