Damaged Araku valley bridge completed in 58 days: Railways

The railways on Friday said that it has completed the work of the damaged 80 metre-long bridge near Borra Caves on Friday evening in a record time of 58 days.

The bridge between Borraguhalu and Chimidipalli Railway Station in Kottavalasa-Koraput-Kirandul (KK) Rail Line was affected badly due to huge rock by the side of the waterfall dropped on it on October 6.

"The bridge was constructed with an expenditure of only Rs seven crore by using 400 laborers during the period of 58 days. This is the record of any bridge work done in so short a period," East Coast Railway spokesperson J.P. Mishra told IANS.

He also said that the railways held the trial run with a tower wagon earlier in the day resulting commissioning of bridge work in record time.

"Formal traffic will be resumed from the midnight of December 11," Mishra said.

Explaining the damage to the bridge due to land slide, the East Coash railway official said: "The impact on the pier was so huge that upper part of the pier from hit portion got sheared, separated and moved towards the valley by 1.6 metres.

"This had caused mis-alignment of track over the bridge as girders over the pier had also moved along with the pier," he said.

He also said that for carrying on the construction work of the bridge, they have to stop the huge flow of the waterfall.

The 445-km Kothavalasa-Kirandul line, runs through the dense mountains of the Eastern Ghats and is one of the steepest broad-gauge freight line in the Indian Railways. It connects the NMDC's iron ore mines in Chattisgarh with the steel plants and the port in Vishakhapatnam.

The route has over 58 tunnels and 84 major bridges and is the country's highest broad-gauge freight line.

Following the damage to the bridge, the railways cancelled the journey of its glass-domed Vistadome coach attached to the Araku train.

The bridge of the rail line is adjacent to the scenic waterfall, which is about 90 km from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and 120 km from Koraput in Odisha.

--IANS

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