Mumbai: State’s heaviest girder hangs on a few jacks

The girder, which stands on hydraulic jacks and wooden blocks, at Vidyavihar station

Three months on, in a serious lapse, the partially complete Vidyavihar bridge, a BMC project, has been left hanging on metal blocks even as hundreds of trains pass by below its 10 lines on which lakhs of commuters ride every day. Lowering of the bridge, which is the final stage of the girder launch, is still awaited. Any untoward incident will not only lead to loss of life but also sever national and local train connectivity to Mumbai.

The BMC has been constructing an east-west road overbridge at Vidyavihar station, which promises to boost local connectivity for vehicles between the Eastern Express Highway, Ghatkopar Mahul Road and the arterial LBS Road. The total length of the bridge is about 480 metres. According to records, this connectivity was marked in BMC's 1991 Development Plan. The civic body prepared a plan for the bridge in 2016 and the construction work started in 2018.

The work of placing two of the longest steel girders of 99.34 metres each across ten railway lines was completed partially last year. While the first up lane girder was placed in May 2023 and subsequently lowered in its place, the second girder was pushed in November 2023 but has been left hanging and is yet to be lowered. Standing on hydraulic jacks and wooden blocks on all four sides, the second girder is still waiting to be lowered. Girder lowering involves positioning the superstructure onto the pillars that uphold the bridge, marking the ultimate stage of the girder launch.

BMC sources working on the project said that they had been working on the project and consistently following up on the matter with the Railways, but they are still awaiting permission from Central Railway for the required blocks that would enable the lowering of the girders. "Vidyavihar station has been in a mess due to the big bridge. The station has been opened up. The foot overbridge landing and staircase have been dismantled and left halfway. Railways should expedite the at the station," Dr Hansraj Gupta, a commuter, said.

"Vidyavihar station has huge crowds owing to colleges and hospitals in the area. The station is not safe as some kind of work is always going on. The bridge is just one of them," student commuter Shirsagar Joshi said. A retired BMC road engineer said such a thing could be very dangerous. "In the 1980s, road bridge girders standing on jacks and wooden blocks at Byculla collapsed suddenly at 2.30 am. It caused quite a scandal. It was later revealed that it had been raining and the wooden blocks were found to be rotten, leading to the crash."

Sudhir Badami, a civil engineer from IIT-Bombay with 40 years of professional experience, said, "Despite the misalignment of the new Gokhale Bridge and Barfiwala flyover ramp, I do have confidence in our system for the passing of FOBs, ROBs or anything that crosses or is alongside railway tracks. Railways check dimensional requirements then they do vet engineering design. They also verify construction and the erection aspect before granting permission to proceed at ground level. They check the duration of erection does not interfere with their operations and if it does, then mutually adjust. Having said that, it would be atrocious of me to state whether the girder in the state it has been in for the past three months is safe or not. There are checks and cross-checks in the system, which I am sure is carried out by Railways, BMC and the contractor."

How much rail traffic

The average daily footfall at Vidyavihar station is 67,220. The entire main line rail traffic on its way to Dadar, CSMT passes through this stretch. At least 26 pairs of long-distance trains arrive and depart from the station.

During peak season, the number goes up to 37 pairs. During the holiday season, LTT sees a tremendous number of passengers departing to different parts of the country, especially the northern belt.

"There is no problem of blocks. As per my information, all blocks have already been given. The BMC is probably waiting for some bearing to arrive for completion of work," Divisional Railway Manager
Rajneesh Goyal said. BMC officials refuted the allegations and said the work would soon be completed.

2018
Year construction work began

480m
Total length of bridge