Kolkata’s Kankurgachi Chord line bridge modernised after over 100 yrs of service

KOLKATA: Eastern Railway (ER) has upgraded a century-old bridge on the Kankurgachi Chord line between Ballygunge and Sir Gurudas Banerjee Halt stations.

The bridge, originally constructed in 1908, has been modernised to meet contemporary safety and

structural standards.

The project involved replacing the bridge girder with a newly welded girder. This task, which required replacing the restricted-height skew girder (12.2 metres), on both the Up and Down lines, was completed on September 28 and 29. A 10-hour road and rail traffic block was implemented to complete the work.

An ER official stated: “Despite a two-hour delay caused by a procession in the city, the Engineering department team overcame space constraints and the complexities of working with restricted-depth skew girders to successfully complete the project ahead of schedule.”

The new welded girder is designed with a loading capacity of 25 tons to ensure greater durability and reliability. Additionally, all wooden sleepers of the old bridge have been replaced with insulated clits to enhance the structure’s performance.

During the shadow block for the bridge’s upgrade, ER also carried out various other asset renewal and maintenance activities across different departments including

welding joints, replacing worn-out contact wire, replacing anti-creep wire, creating a new isolator, replacing broken and failed insulators, and conducting ballast cleaning and packing work.