The upgradation work on this historic bridge, located between Mahim and Bandra stations, is now fully complete; The project to upgrade bridge No. 20 between Mahim and Bandra stations is complete
The upgradation work of the Bandra bridge is now fully complete
April 13, Sunday, marked a milestone with the Indian Railways' last remaining bridge on screw pile foundation at Bandra in Mumbai completely removed by rebuilding the bridge with brand new state-of-the-art abutments. The upgradation work on this historic bridge, located between Mahim and Bandra stations, is now fully complete.
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“The project to upgrade bridge No. 20 between Mahim and Bandra stations is complete. It marks a milestone in Western Railway history and is an end of an era of old cast iron screw pile foundation bridges on Indian Railways,” an elated Vineet Abhishek, Western Railway’s chief public relations officer said.
“The cast Iron (CI) screw pile foundations are old-design foundation on bridges which give away suddenly without giving distress warning; hence it was decided by the Railway Board, as a policy matter, to rebuild all railway bridges to enhance safety,” he said.
“There was only one Railway bridge left on Cast Iron (CI) pile abutments on Indian Railways, which was Bridge 20 on the Mithi River at Bandra in Mumbai under WR, which has been successfully upgraded today,” he said.
Challenges:
1. Finalization of suitable scheme so as to have least possible impact on very busy Mumbai suburban traffic as both local and through lines were impacted.
2.Construction of coffer dam on both side (East & West side) of existing abutment/pier in Mithi River (having bi-directional flow due to high tides from coastal area).
3.No direct approach to bridge site was available; hence movement of all machinery and material done by blocking 03 Nos stabling lines.
Execution:
Tender was awarded on Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) mode in March 2023 and the work has been executed in two phases.
Phase-I:(Completed on 26.01.25)
-De-launching of existing steel girders by lowering and shifting OHE wire of 04 Nos suburban lines.
-Launching of 4 sets of relieving girders (20.4 m).
-Shifting of 2 Nos OHE portal from bridge pier.
Phase-II:(Completed on 13.04.2025)
-Dismantling of abutments on Cast Iron piles and Re-building the abutments.
-De-launching of the restricted height girders.
-Launching of existing steel girders.
-Re-installation of Electrical and S&T gears.
Now, Phase-II of work has been successfully completed in mega night blocks of 9 hrs 30 min each on two successive nights 11/12 & 12/13.04.25. The work has been executed by deploying 700MT crane (with one standby crane), 10 dumpers, Poclain, 02 JCB, tamping machine, 2 tower wagons, 10 bogie rail truck wagons and about 150 manpower. Work is completed well before monsoon as committed by WR.
Benefits:
The safety of the running trains is enhanced as the Cast Iron pile foundations collapse without giving distress warning.
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