BENGALURU: A mechanical failure occurred nearly 50 feet above the ground at BTM Layout during Metro construction work on Sunday morning, October 24, 2021, when the support leg of a 260-tonne launching girder deployed for constructing the double-decker flyover of the RV Road-Bommasandra line slipped and got distorted. There were no reports of casualties or injuries as the operations of the girder were carried out by remote control.
The launching girder was being set up for laying spans between piers to form the bridge on 19.15-km elevated line of the Reach-5 line of Metro Phase-II when the incident occurred at 6.15 am, near the Udupi Garden signal. While resting on a pier, one support leg of the girder slipped and ended up resting over the pier directly.
The line is being constructed for Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) by a joint venture between Hindustan Construction Company Ltd and URC Construction Private Ltd. A senior Metro official told TNIE, “A total of 130 spans (structures connecting piers) are being laid along this stretch. We have completed 90 spans. The incident occurred when the span connecting piers 145 and 146 were completed. The preparatory work to set the launching girder between piers 146 and 147 was on when the supporting leg of the girder slipped.”
The spans were being laid for both levels of the road-cum-rail-flyover, he added. BMRCL Managing Director Anjum Parwez said there were workers behind the girder and engineers at the ground level. “It was an accident and has happened for the first time when laying a Metro elevated line. The girder slipped in front and so no one was injured. Since it is operated by remote control, no one was close to it,” he said.
A total of three piers are required for the girder to rest, the MD said. “Since it had completed laying of the spans in one portion and was moving on to do it in the next portion, it was rested only on two piers and was moving forward when it slipped. It has been bent and brought down by four cranes that can carry up to 1,500 tonnes of load.”
Work will stop temporarily for a few days. “Three other launching girders are working along the line. We will be completing work on the line using them. BMRCL will do a thorough re-check of the three girders before resuming construction work,” Parwez said. The Jayadeva Metro Interchange Station of the Reach-5 line will connect it with the Nagavara-Kalena Agrahara line (Reach-6). The flyover will rise to 31 meters, making it the tallest flyover in South India.