Bow string girder bridge nears completion in Trichy

Trichy: Southern Railway has completed most of the fabrication work for the bow string girder bridge in stage II of Trichy Junction RoB to bypass the railway tracks between Trichy Junction and Poongudi railway stations. With the welding and fabrication works in the final phase, the steel bridge is expected to be positioned across the tracks in the next few weeks.Steel spans of the bow string girder bridge procured from Katpadi arrived at the site in Feb. Officials said that specialised welders were involved in assembling the 58m-long bridge. "Safety audits will be conducted, after which the bow string structure will be placed over the railway tracks using hydraulic jacks and specialised heavy machinery, most likely before June," an official said. Railways said that the bow string model, is suited for Trichy's soil condition, effective in distributing the load equally due to the unique design. Meanwhile, the state highways department has intensified construction work for reinforced earthen (RE) walls on divisional railway manager (DRM) office end and Aristo (Ambedkar statue) end. Works such as soil filling and levelling for approach roads till abutments of the railway portion of the RoB were taken up. Work for the new stormwater drain with an approach road is also nearing completion on the Mannarpuram end, parallel to the Chennai arm in stage I of the RoB. While railways will spend 15 crore, the highways department has allocated 14.7 crore for stage II. The bridge will have four arms. Except for the Kallukuzhi arm, which will be 8.5m wide, all other arms, including the railway junction arm, will be 12m wide, officials added.