Malappuram: Concrete spans replace steel girders

KOZHIKODE: The  railways is  replacing steel girders on bridges with concrete spans as part of maintaining its assets, especially that of track and bridges.  Six  such replacements have been successfully made in Palakkad division this year. “Prioritising safety as per the directions of the Railway Board, the steel girders of the railway bridges have been replaced with pre-stressed concrete (PSC) slabs.

The PSC slab bridges are easier to maintain and  corrections of track alignment on these bridges are  also relatively easy  to carry out. The track maintainers can  work more effectively, especially  on  bridges which are located at curves,” said Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Naresh Lalwani. The budget grant for the bridge work for  2017- 18 was Rs 6.03 crore. 

The renovated bridges include two each in Shornur-Nilambur, Kasargod-Mangaluru and Tirur-Tirunavaya stretches. The last replacement was done between Angadipuram and Vaniambalam in Shoranur-Nilambur road section a few days back. “Two spans of PSC slabs of 6.10 metres length with reinforced cement concrete (RCC) retainers, costing Rs 35 lakhs each had been placed after removing the steel girders.

These slabs were placed with the help of 140-tonne crane (Nila Sakthi) deployed from Shoranur junction.  The work was done in one night at each spot without affecting the train services,” said a railway engineer, who supervised the work at Shornur side.  Around 50 railway  staff from engineering, mechanical and operating departments of the division  took part in the girder replacement.