Hubballi Division completed the rebuilding of waterway bridge in Hebsur recently. Bridge No. 9 of span 6.1m in Hubballi – Gadag Railway line at Hebsur which was old and in Run – down condition was replaced with new bridge of newest loading standard.
Bridge No. 9 which was built during British Era on Hubballi – Gadag railway line was observed to be showing signs of deterioration during regular inspection of Railway officials. Hence, it was immediately supported with C-C cribs and strengthened. Further, a new bridge was designed and planned to be replaced as a permanent measure. The RCC boxes were casted at location and were planned to push below the running track. But the site posed a very typical challenge as the soil in area has a thick layer of Black cotton soil which has very poor bearing capacity. Another field level problem was that the site at which the work was to be done was the lowest point of the area due to which it was perpetually water logged. This made taking men, material and machinery to the site extremely difficult.
The site was drained out by making trenches and pits. Moreover, the approach to the site was made by using released railway concrete sleepers during the month of October and November 2020. The work was taken up under the guidance of Vipul Kumar, Principal Chief Engineer and Arvind Malkhede, Divisional Railway Manager in the month of December 2020. RCC boxes were pushed below the running railway line and the work was completed. Arvind Malkhede said that the Hubballi Division team led by Vinayak Padalkar, Divisional Engineer took up the work on war footing and in a mission mode to complete the work at the earliest.
Ajay Kumar Singh, GM/SWR appreciated the officers and staff for successfully completing the work even under difficult conditions and said that Railway is working relentlessly towards enhancing passenger safety by strengthening of tracks and bridges.
