The restoration of the damaged railway bridge across the Ponnai, a tributary of the Palar, in Vellore district has been going on since Thursday. Support columns are being erected around the damaged brick and mortar pillar.
The British-era bridge, on the Arakkonam-Katpadi section of the Chennai Division of Southern Railway, connects Tiruvalam and Mukundarayapuram, the border stations of Vellore and Ranipet districts.
Built in 1865, the bridge has 56 pillars, covering 914 metres. These pillars, railway officials say, have a lifespan of 60 years. Such British-era bridges were identified for demolition by Southern Railway a few years ago. The Elephant Gate bridge, built in 1915 between Chennai Central and Basin Bridge Junction, is an example.
More than 100 workers and railway officials have been working on the site since Thursday when cracks were found in the 38th pillar by a gang-man. A team of technical experts from Structural Engineering Research Center (SERC-CSIR), along with Ganesh, Divisional Railway Manager, Chennai, and railway engineers, inspected the bridge on Friday.
The line is taken by trains going from Chennai to Katpadi. The trains going to Chennai take the new bridge built adjacent to the damaged one. “Once the repairs are done, trains can be run at 30 kmph-45 kmph because of the bridge’s structural weakness,” said a Southern Railway official.
Officials said the discharge of 1,04,054 cusecs from the Ponnai and Palar anaicuts on November 19, followed by a daily discharge of 60,000 cusecs-80,000 cusecs, could have damaged the old bridge. On Friday, Vellore Collector P. Kumaravel Pandian ordered that the flow of water in the Ponnai be reduced to facilitate the repairs.
“We are also operating more buses between the Katpadi station and the Vellore bus terminus for the stranded long-distance travellers,” he said.
