Title - Chennai : Work on Korukkupet bridge trundles ahead

Southern Railway will, on Sunday, undertake further work on a Road Overbridge (ROB) near Korukkupet railway station.

The overbridge has been planned as a replacement for the level crossing on Cochrane Road near the railway station. As the work for the alignment of pre-stressed concrete girders over a sub-structure of pillars involves the use of heavy duty cranes and heavy machinery, the Railway has sought the assistance of city police to cordon off the densely-populated area to freeze human and vehicular movement from 6 a.m. on Sunday to 6 a.m. on Monday.

The Railway has also cancelled six EMUs including Moore Market Complex-Ennore, Ennore-Tiruvallur and Ponneri-Tiruvallur locals. However, EMU services along the EMU mainline from Chennai to Gummidipoondi that runs adjacent will not be affected by the work, officials said.

The rail line where the ROB is being constructed between Vyasarpadi Jeeva and Korukkupet is primarily a freight movement corridor connecting Gudur and Ennore to Chennai. The ROB would free up road and rail traffic on this densely-populated stretch dotted by hutments, said G. Brahmananda Reddy, Southern Railway chief engineer.

The Rs. 14 crore-project, which was sanctioned in 2007, is shared by the Railway and the State government. The State Highways is contributing Rs. 9.58 crore. The project did not take off for almost two years due to the delay in firming up a “General Agreement Drawing” (GAD) by the Railway and the State authorities, uncertainty over the routes along which road traffic had to be diverted for the work and several stormwater drain works undertaken in the area by the Chennai Corporation. It was in 2009 that work commenced after road traffic along the level crossing was closed except for pedestrians and two-wheelers.

Once the government proposes an ROB or a Road Underbridge (RUB) to replace a level crossing, the next step is to firm up a GAD that would clear the decks for putting an estimate for the project and eventually the initiation of tender process, officials said.

On Sunday, the Railway will use heavy duty cranes to move six pre-cast girders each with a span of 36 metre and weighing 120 tonnes on to the support pillars. Once this is done, the government will have to complete the project by laying the approach roads. “We expect that once the ROB is in place for approach roads to be laid, the two-lane ROB can be commissioned in a matter of four months,” Mr. Reddy said.

According to officials, the three 120-tonne cranes and a 75-tonne crane used to haul the massive girders would have to be manoeuvred laterally and longitudinally and could pose a hazard to anyone venturing near the work site. “We are seeking help from the police to cordon off the work site as during preliminary arrangements there was a lot of trespassing by locals,” said Govindasamy, deputy chief engineer.

Southern Railway is also in the process of replacing other level crossing in the city with ROBs or RUBs in partnership with the State Government, officials said.