BMC launches first girder at Gokhale bridge; one-way traffic to be open from Feb 15

MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is slated to meet its February 15 deadline to open one-way traffic of the much-delayed Gokhale bridge in Andheri to the public, as it finished the installation of the first girder during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.

The first phase of girders was successfully installed in the railway area on Saturday night during the railway traffic and power block.

As per the plan approved by Western Railway (WR) and directed by Western Railway Rights Ltd, the work is in progress according to the plan.

The target for installing the girders was achieved on Sunday by cutting 75% of the planned distance.

After completing this stage, the girder installation in the remaining distance will also be done soon.

The weight of the girder is approximately 1200 MT (metric ton). The length of the girder is 90 metres, and the width is 13.5 metres. In the next fortnight, this girder will be moved 14 meters to the north and then lowered by 7.5 meters.

To achieve this, Western Railway has sanctioned a block period of 11 days to bring down the bridge from a height of 7.5 metres in the railway premises. With the special block, it will be possible for them to lower the girder by an average of 550 mm in three hours every night.

Ulhas Mahale, deputy commissioner (infrastructure), said that in the next few days, this girder will be shifted to the north direction and then brought down in phases. “This work is going to be technically very challenging. For this, this performance will be done under the guidance of special experts. After bringing down to the planned height, further works of the route will be completed,” Mahale said.

According to chief engineer (bridges) Vivek Kalyankar, this is the first project in the country to lower a girder from a height of 7.5 meters in a bridge-related work.

As the project is being implemented in the railway area, the lifeline of the city, utmost care has been taken in terms of security, Kalyankar said.