Bullet train project: Reinforcement bar mesh on pier around railway station tilts, dismantled

The pillar mesh that tilted was the second in line from the edge of the Vishwamitri flyover that sees heavy vehicular traffic.

The mesh of reinforcement bars began to tilt on Tuesday night. (Express photo by Bhupendra Rana)

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A leaning “cage” of reinforcement bars on one of the piers of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor, popularly called the bullet train project, caused panic in the Vishwamitri area of Vadodara on Tuesday night, as National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) officials rushed to have the mesh dismantled to avoid mishaps.

Around 8.40 pm, the mesh of reinforcement bars began to tilt from the concrete base of one of the piers, coming up parallel to the Vishwamitri railway station, which is elevated at an approximate height of 17 m to run above the nearby Vishwamitri railway overbridge. Local workers at the site said that workers climbed on to elevated platforms on the bamboo frame and dismantled the mesh bars with the help of a crane and cutters.

The pillar mesh that tilted was the second in line from the edge of the Vishwamitri flyover that sees heavy vehicular traffic.

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The NHSRCL officials requested the Western Railway (WR) to suspend the railway traffic on the busy route from Mumbai to Vadodara during the rush hour until the mesh was dismantled. Spokesperson of WR told The Indian Express that the trains coming from Mumbai to Vadodara were halted from 8.40 pm to 9.25 pm at the request of the NHSRCL. PRO Pradeep Sharma said, “A total of 20 trains, including five passenger trains and 15 good trains, were held back for about 45 minutes until 9.25 pm. The backlog was cleared thereafter.”

The NHSRCL said in a statement, “The reinforcement cage of a pier was slightly tilted towards the railway loop line near Vishwamitri station in Vadodara… yesterday night. As a precautionary measure, railway traffic was stopped for a while and was resumed later on after thorough safety checking at the site.”

The phase under construction within Vadodara city is identified as the C5 block – 8.19 km in length – being executed by infrastructure giant Larsen & Turbo.

Work on seven pillars is currently underway near the Vishwamitri station, about 3 km from the Vadodara junction railway station.

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Bullet train