WR thinks around megablock

The 40-hour megablock on the Western Railway line for lifting the Sandhurst bridge at Opera House has been postponed again.

The 40-hour megablock on the Western Railway line for lifting the Sandhurst bridge at Opera House has been postponed again. Officials now claim the bridge need not be lifted for now to convert the DC power line to AC.

WR was initially supposed to do the work from May 23 to 25,but officials of the electrical department were apparently not ready. According to sources,The electrical department of WR is not willing to do the work. The project might even be abandoned.

The plan to raise a bridge is new to India. The bridge has to be lifted with synchronised digital jacks,girder by girder and the height raised lane by lane. With the power upgradation,railways need to raise the height bridges that passes above the line.

The bridge at Charni Road was built in 1921,but is quite strong. Four more road overbridges in WR and CR will also have to be lifted with this technology, said a senior WR official.

But as this technology is being used for the first time,many top officials are afraid of getting it wrong. One suggestion that came up in the process was to split it into 10 blocks of fours hours each. Now,paint has been put beneath the bridge so that wires of the OHE can touch the bridge without causing short circuits. So,there is no need to lift the bridge now. WR has also modified the height of pantograph in many trains. Only when tracks are raised will lifting of theses bridges be required, said Sharat Chandrayan,CPRO,WR.

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