On the 21st and 22nd Feb.the railways operated a jumbo block in Surat yard for the replacement of girders of a rail under-bridge at the north end of the station.This has been a long pending demand of the public as the bridge is very leaky with discharges from the trains standing on the tracks above.Till now the railways ignored the many representations made to them in this regard but matters came to a head on Monday 15th Feb. when a non-violent agitation(rail-roko)was launched by a political party with several demands.It seems this demand is being met.
The work was efficiently executed with no major hitches.Workers from all relevant departments were out in force.WR's most heavy-duty crane based at Kankaria(near Ahmedabad) was called out.In addition two WDS4 locos,two WDM2 locos(derated),two eight-wheeler tower wagons,at least one WDG-3 for empty rake movements between Udhna and Surat and several ballast hoppers and BFRS were deployed for this work.
After removing the old girders as seen in this picture,solid PSC girders with flat bottom and curved top were placed in the gap with pre-cast ballast retainers on both sides.These spaces were filled with ballast and then rail-panels were put in place on top and connected to the tracks at both ends.As can be observed in the picture the OHE had to be slewed/removed on three lines to give the crane adequate room to work.
There are four lines in the yard out of which two were completed on Sunday and two are slated for completion on Monday.That will leave the main-lines which are actually the main nuisance.That work will hopefully be taken up next weekend. (Khalid Kagzi)