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Indian Railways 'moving mountains' for connectivity! Well, not exactly mountains, but the national transporter has definitely had to divert a waterfall in the dense mountains of Araku valley to repair a 50-year old railway bridge. In October, a boulder broke off a mountain and completely destroyed a pier on the railway line in the Araku Valley region in Andhra Pradesh. Working on a stiff 60-day deadline, Indian Railways' East Coast Railway division is currently undertaking the mammoth engineering task of repairing India's highest broad-gauge freight line. We take a look at how Indian Railways is working round-the-clock to restore the vital freight line:
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According to East Coast Railway, the boulder weighing nearly 700 tonnes, was the size of a house! It fell on the bridge and shattered its pier. The iron girders were also dislodged.
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What has made the task of repairing the bridge even more difficult is the fact that Indian Railways had to divert a waterfall that has a sharp eight-degree curve to access the site of damage! The waterfall was diverted with the use of channels and pipes.
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Not only that, the bridge has tunnels on both sides. The task requires Indian Railways' teams to not only completely break the damaged pier and remove the girder, but also make the fresh pier in the treacherous area. In an area where workers would find it difficult to reach, the use of heavy machinery is an added challenge.
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The world's highest broad-gauge freight line is 445-km long. Called the Kothavalasa-Kirandul line, it is the steepest broad-gauge freight line of the Indian Railways.
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Running through the Eastern Ghats' dense mountains, this crucial railway line connects NMDC's iron ore mines in Chhattisgarh to Vishakhapatnam’s steel plants and port. For now the freight has to take a 150-km diversion and is being moved on the Koraput-Rayagada-Vizianagram line.
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The task of repairing the bridge is happening on war-footing, says Mukul S Mathur, who is the Divisional Railway Manager of Waltair Divison of East Coast Railway.
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Speaking to FE Online, Mathur said that the railway bridge is a crucial one and drones and camera feeds are monitoring the progress every minute of the day. "This is a 24*7 task and the camera feed of the repair site is being monitored by the Railway Board as well," Mathur said.
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The boulder damaged the railway bridge on October 7 and the repair work started within 5 days. According to Mathur, the bridge should be ready for traffic by December 12 – that is within the 60-day deadline that has been set.
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Engineers also had to build a half-a-kilometer long approach to reach the bottom of the pier. With the help of special chemicals and controlled explosives, the damaged piers was broken. The bridge was then made to stand on a temporary crib structure.
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The work, as stated earlier, involves building a 28-metre pier well-rooted in the rocky terrain and also restoring the steep tracks. The railway line has 58 tunnels and 84 major bridges. The cost of bridge repair has been pegged at Rs 7 crore.
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