Mumbai: Girders launched, work on Nerul-Belapur-Uran line reaches advanced stage

The Belapur-Seawoods Uran suburban railway project has been rated as the most delayed railway project in Maharashtra

The Central Railway (CR) on Monday formally announced the launch of two 61-metre open web girders of the ongoing Nerul-Belapur-Uran project between Jasai and JNPT. With this, work on the second phase of the project linking the Uran railway line to the Mumbai suburban network has moved to the advanced stage. Of the 27-km stretch of the project, about 12 km till Kharkopar is operational.

The Belapur-Seawoods-Uran suburban railway project that the CR and the City Industrial Development Corporation Limited (CIDCO) have been constructing, was rated as the most delayed railway project in Maharashtra with a time run of over 216 months (18 years), as per the union government's infrastructure and project monitoring division of the ministry of statistics and programme implementation.

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"Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, recently, CR launched two 61-metre open web girders for the Nerul-Belapur-Uran Project between Jasai and JNPT by operating a block of three hours. It is a step towards connecting Uran with the Mumbai suburban network. These 61-metre open web girders were constructed at the CR engineering workshop in Manmad, and then transported and assembled at the launching site. Each girder weighs 232 metric tonnes," said a CR spokesperson.

The spokesperson further said, "The launching of girders is a complex job considering there is a line that crosses the Panvel-Jasai-JNPT line. It handles heavy container traffic. Another dedicated freight corridor line from JNPT to Panvel is also under construction. Two crawler road cranes were used to launch the girders. To ensure safe lifting of the girders, the verticality was maintained using a specially developed lifting frame. During lifting, rotational movement was monitored by three inclinometres manufactured for the bridge. The down track web girder was successfully launched on July 3 and the up track web girder was launched on August 12. Hours of traffic and power blocks were maintained on the Jasai-JNPT line. With this launch, the project is now in the advanced stage."

Work during the lockdown

Major construction work on the corridor done during lockdown includes cover over platform at Rajanpada, foundation and sub-structure work at Nava-Sheva, Dronagiri and Uran and subway work at Uran. The Kharkopar-Uran stretch will have five stations, two major bridges, 46 minor bridges, four road under-bridges and four road over-bridges.