RVNL finishes 28m deck-launch to bridge key Chingrighata gap

Kolkata: After a 15-month wait, RVNL has managed to complete launching of the entire 28m concrete deck between piers 317 and 318 of the Orange Line. Thus, a major part of the first phase of lifting concrete segments to cover the viaduct gap atop Chingrighata is now done.Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), implementing the 32km New Garia-Airport corridor, also called the Orange Line, has been lobbying for police nod to lift the concrete slabs to bridge the gap at Chingrighata. Traffic blocks were finally enforced from 8 pm on Friday for 60 hours (till 8 pm on Monday). In Phase I, 28m of viaduct (on which metro tracks are laid) gap between piers 317 and 318 was taken care of. Another 32m of concrete will be placed between piers 318 and 319 next weekend as part of Phase II work atop the busy intersection on Bypass.When work started at 7.55 pm on Friday, as the pending police nod came, following multiple prods from high court and the Supreme Court, RVNL officials, led by Vipin Kumar, chief project manager and also the officiating executive director), conducted a puja to mark the occasion.But the Ultadanga-bound flank couldn't be freed until 8.23 pm. By this time, the 500MT girder-launcher had moved right next to the Chingrighata crossing. On Friday evening, cops had a trying time controlling the heavy flow of vehicles. The tail of the jam for Ultadanga-bound traffic continued till Park Circus Maidan. Officials said the new 500m road, which RVNL has built for traffic diversion along Majherpara opposite Captain Bheri, could only accommodate two lanes of cars, whereas the flank that was closed to facilitate the metro work has four lanes.By Saturday morning, four out of the 10 segments comprising the 28m girder (concrete deck) were lifted and 11m covered. By 8pm, all 10 segments, eight of which weigh 60 tonne each, and two weighing 40 tonne each, were lifted. But the finishing work, which will go on till late on Sunday night, is complex. It involves aligning all the 10 pieces of concrete, tying them with cables, sticking them with glue, letting the glue harden, among other construction requirements.Officials are happy that a continuous day-and-night block from Friday 8pm to Monday 8am was granted. "This has ensured safety and security of the viaduct construction and those of the cars and pedestrians as well," an official said. Earlier, Kolkata Police had only agreed to six-night blocks over two weekends. "That would have been a tremendous construction hazard," the official added.But on Thursday, days after the new govt took over, RVNL managed to convince the state by furnishing a report by IIT-Guwahati, reiterating the need for a continuous traffic block for safeguarding the construction and ensuring that no one was injured when the night-long block ended and the road was reopened.