Dimapur, Jan. 16 (EMN): Engineers of Northeast Frontal Railway (NFR) created a record of sorts when they carried out the rectification of the bearing arrangements of iconic Saraighat Bridge during a three hour traffic block on January 12.
Bearing are the arrangement by which the bridge rests on the piers (pillars). They not only link the bridge girders to the pillars but also facilitate the lateral movement of the bridge as a result of expansion etc.
It was probably during the 6.1 Richter scale earthquake on September 21, 2009, that the bearings under two end girders got tilted. The bridge was kept under observation and speed of trains was kept at 45 kmph. Rectification of the bearings was indeed a herculean task as the ends of the bridge girders were to be lifted by about 10 centimetres. Such work was never taken up earlier.
The team of Railway Engineers of Northeast Frontier Railway accepted the challenge. After thorough research and design, the engineers decided that the tilted bearings of the bridge would be rectified. Accordingly, necessary preparations were made to deal with all kinds of possible adverse situations that could occur so as to avoid disruption to the vital connectivity.
Requisite bearing members were arranged and heavy duty lifting jacks of 500 tonne capacity apart from other machinery were mobilised. To rectify the bearings without any hazard, the rail and road traffic on the bridge was suspended temporarily for three hours. Two separate teams of Engineers and skilled workers were deployed on both sides for rectification of bearings.
The bearings were removed from their place and installed back to correct inclination after cleaning etc. After ensuring correct position of the bearings, the bridge girders were lowered back to original position. Road surface was brought back to original level. Rail track was also re-fixed and regular rail and road traffic movement was permitted within three hours.
The speed restriction of 45 kmph is planned to be relaxed now which would have far reaching implication on smoothening railway connectivity to Northeast India, stated chief public relation officer Pranav Jyoti Sharma in a press release.
