BENGALURU: Four years after two Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) boxes were cast along the Bengaluru-Chennai tracks by the Bengaluru Division on the signal-free Okalipuram corridor, the third such box was pushed late Tuesday night till early Wednesday. The cumbersome task of installing a new 20.5-metre girder in place of the existing 9.15-metre too was done.
Work on the eight-lane corridor was slated to begin in 2012 end but it commenced only on June 16, 2015. It was to be completed within 15 months from then but got inordinately delayed due to various reasons, including the pandemic.
At present 92% of the project has been completed and the rest is expected to be in place by the year-end. It involves a total length of 4.5 km with all the lanes, the boxes and the flyovers taken into consideration.
Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Administration, Bengaluru Division Kusuma Hariprasad told The New Indian Express that line and power block were taken at the SBC yard (Line 3) from 11 pm to 5.30 am to facilitate the work. "The approach and road work here is done by BBMP. The civic agency had already deposited Rs 39.45 crore to Railways to carry out the box laying work here. The project cost now is around Rs 45.7 crore."
Elaborating on the technicalities involved, she said that nearly 100 labourers were involved in the project with a 350-tonne Road Crane, three tower cars and an earth mover among other equipments to complete the job.
"The block was taken after the passing of Chennai Mail. Signalling & Telecommunication cables were diverted beforehand with disconnections taken during the night as pre-block activity. The block was cleared and passenger services restored by morning," she said. Railways needs to complete one more box for its portion of the project to be completed.
A senior BBMP official said when completed, the traffic heading from Majestic towards Rajaji Nagar and that from Majestic directly to the back entry of the station will be smooth.
"Our portion is almost over and we need Railways to complete the portion on their land. It is complicated for them as trains have to be stopped and so work can be done only during late nights when train movement is less."