Railway Minister Piyush Goyal is all set to inaugurate a new 4-lane cable stayed railway road overbridge at Bardhaman on September 30, 2019. This is said to be the second largest in India. Giving a boost to the ‘Make in India’ initiative, the big infrastructure project has been built at a cost of Rs 300 crore with 50:50 sharing between the Railway Ministry and the state government of West Bengal. The bridge has 1.5 metre-wide footpaths on each side and the road itself is 27.7 metres wide to accommodate vehicles on four lanes.
For the development of the cable stayed bridge with approach connectivity, the MoU was signed with the state government in March 2015. Currently, the 188.4 metre-long cable stayed bridge project is under the final stage of completion.
According to Rail Vikas Nigam Limited, which is implementing the project, pylon segments erection has been done over busy and running traffic in a period of 197 days against the planning of 200 days, without affecting single-day traffic operation. The Girders have been placed over electrified tracks with the specially designed crane. Precast slabs have been used for deck concreting. The cables used in this project were manufactured under the ‘Make in India’ policy by Usha Martin, Ranchi on behalf of Freyssinet- subcontractor (a French company) using their technology in India. The project is expected to become a future fast track model for construction over busy yard.
The section would be completely electrified. The cable stayed bridge would be connected to GT Road on one side with two approach arms and to Katwa-Kalna Road on the other side with two approach arms.
Some of the salient features of the project include LARSA 4D model for design, wind tunnel test, using of precast RCC slabs to avoid scaffolding on deck, composite structures for easier construction, LUSAS model for Construction Stage Analysis, durable painting by epoxy-based paint of Akzonobel, geometry control during execution, monolithic back span, erection scheme, ROBO Control monitoring system by Mageba.