In a six hours block Western Railway launched 8 Nos of 25 m long steel girders across tracks at Ferere ROB located between Charni Road and Grant Road stations of Western suburban section. The audit conducted by IITB had earlier suggested major repairs, however, subsequently, condition of girders became precarious when the inspections revealed severe corrosion connections between longitudinal and cross girders supporting the road. IITB had therefore suggested immediate re-girdering. The ROB was closed for traffic since the midnight of 16th /17th January 2020. The dismantling of old girders was done on 8th February 2020. The jacketing of the existing abutment was taken up first on the west side & then east side including the casting of new pedestals. A Traffic & Power block was taken between Charni Road & Grant Road station on the intermittent night of 24th & 25th August 2020 on all the lines.
The British era ROB was constructed in the year 1921. The ROB had a complex structure with 350 sqm of a concrete slab supported on 10 Nos of 16m long tertiary girders, 14 Nos of 25m long secondary girders, 10 Cross girders of 16m length finally supported on two main girders of 25m length. Total weight of existing girders of this ROB is approx. 220 MT and it was dismantled earlier in a major block of 8 hours on 8th / 9th February 2020. Amidst the restrictions of COVID pandemic and lockdown since March 23, 2020, Western Railway has completed the fabrication of girders and strengthening of the substructure of ROB and finally launched the girders across the tracks. The suburban section between Churchgate and Mumbai Central was closed during this period and all UP local trains were short terminated at Mumbai Central and down local trains were started from Mumbai Central during this period. 9 suburban trains were affected due to this major block.
Re-girdering posed the twin challenge of maintaining the level of approach road without appreciable raising and providing increased clearance under the bottom of the girder to satisfy the requirement of Railway. Western Railway took up the design themselves and these challenges were met with by a design with tapered girders that needed minimal raising road level of about 80 cm. This will pave way for early restoration of the road by MCGM. Special grade steel (E 450) has been used for girder fabrication to provide increased strength and service life. The girders were metalized and stainless steel reinforcement has been used in concrete to provide enhanced durability looking at the corrosive environment of Mumbai. The girders were fabricated in RDSO approved Workshop at Palghar.
Looking at the future increase in traffic the ROB will have two separate carriageways with a divider in between and two pedestrian walkways one on each side. The road width has also been increased to 17.50 m against the present width of 16.78 m. The Western Railway intends to complete its portion of work by end of September 2020. The rebuilding of approach road at this ROB is being done by MCGM.
