Western Railway launches first of two girders of Delisle bridge at Lower Parel

In a major boost to infrastructural upgrades and to enhance the safety of train operations over the Mumbai suburban section, Western Railway has successfully undertaken the launching of a girder of ‘Delisle Bridge’ located at Lower Parel.

The work was undertaken by the Construction Department of WR & successfully completed on Wednesday during the block period which was undertaken on all lines at Lower Parel from 18-22 June. The second girder of this bridge will be launched in August 2022, and the bridge is expected to open for public use by January 2023.

The 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. 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.

According to Sumit Thakur, Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway, a major milestone was achieved with the launching of the longest (90 mtr) and heaviest (1040 MT) girder with a single-span of 65-degree skew ever launched in Western Railways.

A team comprising of 15 engineers of railway and agency along with consultant’s engineer were continuously monitoring the work. A total of eight supervisors and 102 labours were deployed round the clock in this mammoth task.

The bridge is 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 was placed, of which, one has been launched and the second one will be placed by September 2022.

The Design and drawing of the superstructure were approved by RDSO owing to the 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 the second Open Web Girder gets launched.

The ROB was found unsafe during a safety audit in July 2018. It was then 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 a record five-month 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 was completed in June 2019.