UP-line bridge repairs to be completed by mid-Jan: CR

The Central Railway will complete work on the extension of a 35-year-old bridge, between Monkey Hill and Nagnath UP-line section, by mid-January, an official said on Tuesday.

On October 3, a Central Railway team had found that heavy rains had damaged the 28-km-long section between Lonavala to Karjat, putting trains plying on the bridge at risk.

"Work on the extension of the bridge has been undertaken on war footing and will be completed by mid-January next year," chief public relations officer of CR, Shivaji Sutar said.

Authorities have cancelled the operations of two main trains for over a month, while partially suspending five other trains, as a result of which travel on the Mumbai-Pune route has become difficult.

After consulting engineers of Konkan Railway and IIT Bombay, the CR decided to extend the length of bridge from its original length of 150 metres to 195 metres, he said.

The work on southeast ghat between Monkey Hill and Nagnath stations on Up-line, will cost around Rs 10 crore, additional divisional railway manager (Infra), Ashutosh Gupta said.

"This project involves a great deal of risk, as on one side there is a deep gorge, while a rocky mountain stands on the other side," he added.