Central Railway's mega event of placing girders on Patri Pul next week

The Bridge is being built by MSRDC in close co-ordination with CR. Pic/ Sameer Markande

Ready and complete! The mega event of placing Maharashtra's longest bridge girders at the much-talked-about Patri Pul over eight lines in Kalyan is all set to happen next week for a period of four days.

"At 76.67 metres, these will be the longest bridge girders over railway lines in Maharashtra at about four times as long as a cricket pitch or one-fourth that of the Paris's Eiffel Tower. These are finally woven together and the most crucial task of all will now be to place them over rail lines with deft precision," a senior official said.

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The bridge is being built by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) in close coordination with Central Railway (CR).

"There are about nine rail lines at the point - six up and down working lines, two-yard lines and one that goes to the electric loco shed. The bridge will have to span over all these. The work has been divided in four days with sets of two during which a block will be needed to stop all train operations," he added.

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In the first set of two days, the block will have to be taken for four hours each for launching and completing the process. This has been planned on November 21 and 22.

Once this is done, the second set of blocks of two days for three hours each will be required for lowering and placing the girders which have been planned on November 28 and 29.

The 104-year-old Patri Pool Bridge that had been deemed unsafe by a report by IIT-B was pulled down in November 2018 with a completion target of 16 months. However, work was stuck due to the lockdown but resumed after May 15 post which slowly labour had to be organised.

CR chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar confirmed the development and said that the block had been planned and had received approvals.

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