Railway PSU finds innovative solutions to complete Western DFC’s Vaitarana–Sachin section

New Delhi, India (Urban Transport News): Indian Railways’ PSU, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) has completed work of dismantling and reconstruction (after making way for DFC tracks) of Valsad Road Over Bridge (ROB) on the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor in the state of Gujarat in a record 20 day time.

Working in tandem with various Government agencies and the civil administration, the ROB which funnels busy traffic into Valsad ROB from the Mumbai-Delhi highway, a 20-day traffic block was secured on June 2, 2021, for dealing with this challenge.

Background

Work in Western DFC’s Vaitarana – Sachin section faced a bottleneck of crossing a ROB near Valsad Town in South Gujarat. The ROB work could not be started due to various limitations and track laying activities would have been adversely affected. Track laying projects using state-of-the-art New Track Construction (NTC) machine, would have been affected. 

The Solution

The project team geared up to take up this challenge. After many brainstorming sessions, an innovative solution was arrived at. The solution proposed was to insert a Twin precast box of 16m x 10m size on the approach of the ROB to take the NTC forward through it. The biggest challenge in doing this work was road traffic block, as this ROB is one of the busiest passages into the city of Valsad from the Mumbai-Delhi highway. The whole work is planned to be completed in 20 days road traffic block.     

Extensive arrangements were made for the pre-casting of these huge segments. Despite lock-downs and travel restrictions, a team of approximately 150 nos, including senior engineers toiled day & night to finish the casting works. Road traffic block was granted by the district administration of Valsad, responding favorably to the proposal.

The road traffic block of 20 days commenced on 02-06-2021 and the work is progressing as per planning. Four heavy-duty hydraulic cranes having capacities varying from 300 MT to 500 MT are mobilized for the installation of these segments. Another challenge that was difficult to handle was solved by innovation in local handling of the segments. The precast segments are too big & heavy to handle without causing any internal stresses during handling. The Project Team has designed a special carrier using a multi-axle trailer fitted with a steel platform on it. The fabrication of the steel platform was completely done at site even during the period when the industrial oxygen supply was prohibited in the country. The team could overcome all such constraints by continuously striving for alternatives and by taping the collective wisdom & experience of the team.        

It may be noted that the Western Corridor connecting Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Mumbai will traverse through the states of UP, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra of WDFC & EDFC.

WDFC’s 306 km Rewari - Madar section was dedicated to the nation on 07.01.2021. Trial run of 369 km of WDFC between New Palanpur to New Kishangarh has been done. EDFC’s 351 km New Bhaupur - New Khurja section and the Operation Control Centre at Prayagraj were dedicated to the nation by the Hon’ble PM  on 29.12.2020. A total of approx. 2800 route Km of the whole WDFC and EDFC (excluding the Sonnagar – Dankuni PPP section) will be commissioned by June 2022.

In the commissioned sections, a total of more than 4000 trains have been run. In Eastern DFC, it has more than 3000 trains and in WDFC more than 1000 trains. Total GTKM has crossed the 3 million ton mark. Some of the trains in the section are achieving an average speed of 99.38 kmph in EDFC and 92 kmph in WDFC.  These speeds are comparable to any of the fastest mail express trains.