The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has completed the first stage in the preliminary works for the Kochi metro-rail project, by completely pulling down the two-wheeler bays of the North overbridge in 21 days.
The structure was fully dismantled by Thursday midnight, said P. Sriram, the Kochi project director of DMRC, while interacting with the media here on Friday.
Two single-lane overbridges will come up in their place in another nine months – latest by September 2012. Piling work is in progress for the new bridge and girders for the super structure are getting ready.
Steel girders would be used over the rails.
Vehicles would pass through the rebuilt portion when the central portion of the bridge is pulled down and rebuilt in another nine months. The metro-rail pillars would be built above the central portion.
“We could pull down the approach spans of the two-wheeler bays in 15 days. It took 30 hours spanning over six days to dismantle the portion over the rails. Each of the 20-m-long beams over the rail portion weighed 35 tonnes and was removed overnight using cranes. Rail traffic was not disrupted in any way since the dismantling was done in stages during times when trains did not ply. We could complete the works fast because of the cooperation extended by members of the public, the traffic police, the Railways and the district administration,” Mr. Sriram said.
The bays were dismantled by cutting the slabs vertically using diamond-tipped wall-sawing machines. Holes were drilled into them using diamond-tipped core drilling machines so that they could be pulled up using cranes. Diamond-edged wire-sawing machines were used to cut the pillars and beams, Mr. Sriram said.
Cherian Varkey Construction Company was awarded the Rs.70-crore contract to rebuild the bridge in 18 months' time. The under-ground 66 kV power cable and water pipeline beneath the bridge would be shifted in a month's time.
Referring to the flyovers proposed at Vytilla and Edapally that would co-exist with the metro-rail, Mr. Sriram said that the DMRC had handed over its requirements to the NHAI.
The delay in building flyovers will not affect the progress of work on the metro rail. The project will be completed in three-and-a-half years as promised by the DMRC's managing director E. Sreedharan.
Also present at the media interaction were DMRC's joint general manager Joseph K.J., deputy chief engineer Radhakrishnan Nair and deputy CE (Electrical) V.R. Sudhi.
