NH PWD commences pushing assembled bow-string bridge over Mangaluru-Mumbai railway line in Udupi

Work on the Indrali additional RoB commenced in 2018 when a part of NH 169A between Udupi and Manipal was expanded to four lanes. The work moved at a snail’s pace due to changes in design, bureaucratic delays and other issues, testing the patience of people.

The National Highways division of Karnataka Public Works Department has began pushing the steel bow-string bridge girder over the Mangaluru-Mumbai railway line at Indrali in Udupi for construction of an additional rail-over-bridge on Malpe-Tirthahalli National Highway 169A.

As on April 16, the girder was pushed to a distance of 30 metres at a rate of about 2m per hour, from Manipal-side, said a senior NH-PWD engineer overseeing the project. Pushing started on April 15, bringing the girder close to the bridge cribs next to the railway track.

While engineers from Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) tested the assembled bridge, experts from the Research Design and Safety Organisation (RDSO) of the Indian Railways were expected to visit the site on April 21. Their testing might take about a week by which time the NH-PWD would erect bridge cribs on Udupi side too, the engineer said.

The department was using hydraulic jacks, birders and rails atop the girders to push the 12 m wide, 58 m long and about 476-tonne pre-assembled bridge inch-by-inch. For erecting bridge cribs on Manipal-side, KRCL had sought a six-hour traffic and power block at the start of this week, the engineer said.

Expecting RDSO’s clearance in about 10 days, the engineer hoped that the pushing could get completed by April-end. Thereafter, concrete would be laid on the bridge surface followed by its commissioning, he added.

Work on the Indrali additional RoB commenced in 2018 when a part of NH 169A between Udupi and Manipal was expanded to four lanes. The work moved at a snail’s pace due to changes in design, bureaucratic delays and other issues, testing the patience of people.

As vehicles had to change lanes from the four-lane highway and and move on the two-lane existing bridge, many accidents were reported on the stretch prompting the district administration to threaten criminal action against the departments and the contractor concerned.