Rail Bridges; Hanging on the Edges
S. K. Khanna
Railway's history is abound with stories of old bridges to have collapsed under the weight of moving trains, but this is the first time that a bridge has fallen on a train. Recently, a freak accident snuffed out 40 lives when a 150-years old overbridge, being dismantled, came tumbling down on a train near Bhagalpur in Bihar. It saddened as well as amused many as they had heard of bridges collapsing due to the weight of trains, but a bridge falling on a train, killing and trapping dozens of passengers under an avalanche of brick and cement, amused every one!
The freak accident occurred on the morning of December 1, 2006, when the third pillar and arch of the bridge, known as Ulta Pul, collapsed on the sleeper coach, reportedly because of the vibration caused by the running train. The impact drove the coach into the ground. The accident, the first in the history of Railways indeed calls for extensive repair and rehabilitation of Railways big inventory of old bridges.
According to sources, the bridge was being dismantled by night, had been closed to traffic since 2002. A new bridge was thrown open in July this year, but the Railway began demolishing the old bridge only late last month. The Railways has been ignoring many wake–up calls when chunks of the bridge fell first on the track and then on a moving trains, earlier. It proved to be the third time as the remaining portion of the bridge collapsed and fell on the train on December 1, 2006 as if the bridge was waiting to fall down at any moment. Trains were allowed to ply beneath the bridge ignoring all railway safety norms.
"Ulta Pul, the bridge built in, 1861 by the British, was christened Ulta Pul because of its transverse orientation to the railway line ‘Opinions differ. The concept of an overhead bridge was alien at that time. The keystone-structure, the main load- bearing wedge-shaped brick at the centre of the arch holding the structure, could have fired popular imagination to name the bridge so, say the old records. Three years back, the overbridge, which had borne heavy load for more than a century, had developed a number of cracks and a part of it had already been dismantled."
The Railway is at a loss to explain this tragedy. Many queries remain unanswered. The officials had no explanation for allowing a passenger train to pass under the 150 years old bridge without taking precautionary measures after dismantling work had weakened the overbridge structure, despite earlier warnings.
A high – powered railway safety team is to probe the accident. According to a member, "there had been some engineering lapses in the dismantling of the bridge, which led to the accident. The engineering staff had a plan involving adequate safety measures, but for certain reasons, which are yet to be fully ascertained, the plan did not work. As the investigation are on, it is not desirable to divulge further details," he added. There could be many chinks in these statements. In the qualms of these statements, the real truth has always been the casualty and such a skewed approach was inevitable. It is imperative that such an approach to such instances should end as quickly as possible. While the Railway has been very proactive to announce its wonderful turnaround times and again, there are disturbing reports that of the 1, 20,000 bridges under its belt, over 51,000 are more than 100 years old and have outlived their lifespan. How these are to be rehabilitated with least traffic disruption has been engaging the attention of the Railways but the progress on the ground has been very poor despite various accidents due to collapse of some of these bridges earlier.
In 2002, the HR Khanna Committee recommended the setting up of a special task force to inspect damaged railway bridges and recommended that all the dangerous and unsafe bridges be repaired by 2007. With a year to go and about Rs. 20,000 crore to be spent on repair and modernization, there has to be a strong will and resolve before the Railways to ensure that passengers do not suffer and die due to very slow repair and rehabilitation work of these old unsafe and dangerous bridges, precariously hanging on their edges and serious accidents just waiting to happen.
It is quite heartening that bridge and their construction practices in the country are resulting in innovative bridge construction. Many modern and innovative forms, designs and construction engineering concepts are being adopted keeping in pace with the latest trends abroad. A rail bridge being built over the river Chenab will dwarf some of the tallest structures of the world. World’s longest sea- bridge, a 22 km bridge from Sewai in central Mumbai to Nhava in Navi Mumbai proposed to be built will incorporate many new innovative design and construction features which could form basis for other bridges in the country in the coming years.
We have hundreds of eminent and experienced Indian bridge engineers in the Railways and in the contracting and consulting fields. Given the right direction and motivation, the repair and rehabilitation of all old dangerous and unsafe bridges can be accomplished. And the task is not altogether impossible that the programme to rehabilitate the old bridges cannot be initiated seriously. There are a number of success stories of such work having been done earlier by our engineers and contracting and consulting agencies, which have not only saved national resources but have given a professional job satisfaction to these engineers. But nevertheless, the critical area of repair and rehabilitation of old bridges requires immediate attention of the policy makers and implementation bodies in the Railways so that such freak accidents due to collapse of old bridges do not pose a serious danger to the railway passengers.
The freak accident occurred on the morning of December 1, 2006, when the third pillar and arch of the bridge, known as Ulta Pul, collapsed on the sleeper coach, reportedly because of the vibration caused by the running train. The impact drove the coach into the ground. The accident, the first in the history of Railways indeed calls for extensive repair and rehabilitation of Railways big inventory of old bridges.
According to sources, the bridge was being dismantled by night, had been closed to traffic since 2002. A new bridge was thrown open in July this year, but the Railway began demolishing the old bridge only late last month. The Railways has been ignoring many wake–up calls when chunks of the bridge fell first on the track and then on a moving trains, earlier. It proved to be the third time as the remaining portion of the bridge collapsed and fell on the train on December 1, 2006 as if the bridge was waiting to fall down at any moment. Trains were allowed to ply beneath the bridge ignoring all railway safety norms.
"Ulta Pul, the bridge built in, 1861 by the British, was christened Ulta Pul because of its transverse orientation to the railway line ‘Opinions differ. The concept of an overhead bridge was alien at that time. The keystone-structure, the main load- bearing wedge-shaped brick at the centre of the arch holding the structure, could have fired popular imagination to name the bridge so, say the old records. Three years back, the overbridge, which had borne heavy load for more than a century, had developed a number of cracks and a part of it had already been dismantled."
The Railway is at a loss to explain this tragedy. Many queries remain unanswered. The officials had no explanation for allowing a passenger train to pass under the 150 years old bridge without taking precautionary measures after dismantling work had weakened the overbridge structure, despite earlier warnings.
A high – powered railway safety team is to probe the accident. According to a member, "there had been some engineering lapses in the dismantling of the bridge, which led to the accident. The engineering staff had a plan involving adequate safety measures, but for certain reasons, which are yet to be fully ascertained, the plan did not work. As the investigation are on, it is not desirable to divulge further details," he added. There could be many chinks in these statements. In the qualms of these statements, the real truth has always been the casualty and such a skewed approach was inevitable. It is imperative that such an approach to such instances should end as quickly as possible. While the Railway has been very proactive to announce its wonderful turnaround times and again, there are disturbing reports that of the 1, 20,000 bridges under its belt, over 51,000 are more than 100 years old and have outlived their lifespan. How these are to be rehabilitated with least traffic disruption has been engaging the attention of the Railways but the progress on the ground has been very poor despite various accidents due to collapse of some of these bridges earlier.
In 2002, the HR Khanna Committee recommended the setting up of a special task force to inspect damaged railway bridges and recommended that all the dangerous and unsafe bridges be repaired by 2007. With a year to go and about Rs. 20,000 crore to be spent on repair and modernization, there has to be a strong will and resolve before the Railways to ensure that passengers do not suffer and die due to very slow repair and rehabilitation work of these old unsafe and dangerous bridges, precariously hanging on their edges and serious accidents just waiting to happen.
It is quite heartening that bridge and their construction practices in the country are resulting in innovative bridge construction. Many modern and innovative forms, designs and construction engineering concepts are being adopted keeping in pace with the latest trends abroad. A rail bridge being built over the river Chenab will dwarf some of the tallest structures of the world. World’s longest sea- bridge, a 22 km bridge from Sewai in central Mumbai to Nhava in Navi Mumbai proposed to be built will incorporate many new innovative design and construction features which could form basis for other bridges in the country in the coming years.
We have hundreds of eminent and experienced Indian bridge engineers in the Railways and in the contracting and consulting fields. Given the right direction and motivation, the repair and rehabilitation of all old dangerous and unsafe bridges can be accomplished. And the task is not altogether impossible that the programme to rehabilitate the old bridges cannot be initiated seriously. There are a number of success stories of such work having been done earlier by our engineers and contracting and consulting agencies, which have not only saved national resources but have given a professional job satisfaction to these engineers. But nevertheless, the critical area of repair and rehabilitation of old bridges requires immediate attention of the policy makers and implementation bodies in the Railways so that such freak accidents due to collapse of old bridges do not pose a serious danger to the railway passengers.
NBMCW January 2007
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