Girder works of Mumbai’s Vidyavihar ROB to begin tonight; a few trains to run late

The project has been in the pipeline for seven years, since it was officially approved back in 2016 and the work orders were issued in 2018. The current cost of the bridge has been pegged at Rs 178 crore.

Construction of the Vidyavihar Railway Over Bridge is underway. (Express photo)

This ROB will ease the traffic flow between Ghatkopar and Vidyavihar in the eastern suburbs and will provide direct connectivity between Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg (LBS) and Ramkrishna Chemburkar Marg.

According to civic officials, the work will begin at 1.20 am during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday and is expected to be completed at 4.20 am. During this period there will be a mega block in the Central line. Bhubaneswar-CSMT Konark Express, Shalimar-LTT Express, and Howrah-CSMT Mail will be short terminated at Thane and Dadar stations due to the block.

“One of the key features of this bridge is that the open-web girder that we are going to launch is 99.34 metres long, making it the longest girder that has been laid over the railway tracks in India. The girder is being constructed with steel and will be laid in a way that there is no external support in between. The approximate weight of the girder is around 1,000 MT,” said an official.

The ROB will be 480 metres long and will have two carriageways for vehicular movement as well as footpaths for pedestrians.