Raising of Road Over Bridge

on
Western Railway
by

N D Chumber *
R Tolani **

SYNOPSIS
The paper describes the raising scheme adopted in raising of the ROBs at Sidhpur in Delhi
Ahmedabad Section, Ahmedabad Division of Western Railway. This work was carried out in
connection with operation of Double Stack Container (9.50 ft. high) between Palanpur Mehsana
Viramgam section of Western Railway. The ROB, 779 M long, is having 34 Nos. of spans of different
length. These all spans were raised within a period of 2 months using Hydraulic Synchronized lifting of
Girders without taking any traffic block. The scheme of raising of Girders have been illustrated in the
paper.

1.0 INTRODUCTION :
Indian Railways with network of Approx 63000 Route Kms
across the length and the breadth of the country is the
largest railway system under a single management in the
world. The transportation of goods for consumption, for
import and exports has grown exponentially in the recent
past. Transportation of goods globally takes place
predominantly by sea routes and ports are very important
links in the transportation. Gujarat has developed ports
along its coast line to meet the growing demand of the
galloping economy. Since the newly developed ports are
source of additional goods traffic, the railways face a
continuous challenge to augment the system to meet its
obligation towards country with the sectional capacities
getting over-saturated on all routes connecting ports to the
Northern hinterland. There are various ways by which the
capacity augmentation has been done by traffic facility

The traffic from the ports is carried on various ways such as

BOXN, BCX, container wagons etc. Amongst these, the
containerization of the freight is going on at a very rapid
pace due to the obvious benefits of the same. The ports are
gearing up in a big way to handle large volumes of
container traffic. The railway is also called upon to make its
network ready for the additional traffic anticipated. Line
capacity on the existing routs of Western Railway between
Ahmedabad and Delhi is otherwise saturated and one of
the ways to easily upgrade the capacity is by operation of

HIGHWAY SIDE APPROACH

double stack containers on the same train.

CITY SIDE APPROACH

works/ yard remodeling etc, upgradation of signaling
system, gauge conversions, doublings etc.
* Sr. DEN/HQ/Ahmedabad/W.RLY
* ADEN/MG/Sabarmati/W. RLY

The route is not electrified and the running of double stack

containers was found feasible after initially feasibility
studies was coordinated by RITES, PRC and CANAC. The
route Rewari-Jaipur-Palanpur-Mehsana-Viramgam
Rajula - Pipavav was initially identified for the double stack
containers. Subsequently, the Palanpur-GandhidhamMundra Port and Mehsana-Sabarmati were also identified

IRICEN JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

27

for the double stack container operations. The physical

survey undertaken by mounting a flexible box structure on
a wagon, to identify various infringement like ROBs, FOBs
to HT lines and signaling port etc. This paper describes the
planning and execution of the work of lifting of Road Over
Bridge at Sidhpur for getting the required clearances and
the various problems encountered during execution of the
works.
2.0 LOCATION OF THE SIDHPUR ROB:
The ROB is situated near Sidhpur Yard, Ahmedabad
Division on Ahmedabad-Delhi group B line (BG/SL) at Km.

Foundation
Open trapezoidal sedimentary.

4.0 PLANNING:
The ROB was under construction when the planning for the
raising was being done. The railway span had already been
constructed by the construction organization of Western
Railway and the approach spans were already cast by the
state government. The detailed drawings of the existing
ROB collected from the respective organizations to study
the feasibility of raising the ROB.
The revised gradient of approach roads after lifting the
Railway span by 450mm was calculated. In the case of
Sidhpur ROB the length of approached road could not be
increased due to space constraints at the city end. The
existing gradient on Approach Road was approximately
1:24.5 and after raising the Railway span by 450mm, the
gradient on approach span became 1:23.5. This was within
the limits of gradient laid down in IRC and hence it was
decided that the length of the existing approaches be
maintained and the gradient be changed. This also avoided
earthwork and raising/ altering the approach retaining walls
and the entire raising was done in the girders only.

SIDHPUR ROB
682/11-12. The ROB is Connecting Sidhpur City to NH8.
The ROB crosses railway track near the Sidhpur yard and
the nearest points and crossing is within 50 m of the ROB.
The gradient in the yard is 1 in 400 i.e. already at the
minimum allowed gradient in the yards. The creation of
clearance for the double stack containers required the track
to be lowered by 45 cm. This would have necessitated an
increase in gradient. This would have required the approval
of CRS and condonation of Railway Board. Such
condonation also requires provision of extra safety
measures such as catch/ slip siding or operating
restrictions. Since this would have required more time for
execution, and was not a preferred long term arrangement
for the running of the trains, the raising of the ROB was
decided as the better alternative.
3.0 TECHNICAL DATA OF ROB SIDHPUR:
l
l
l

28

Existing vertical clearance from Rail Level: 6.85m

Length of ROB: 779m
Total No. of spans: 34
01 No Railway Span of 47m long
18 spans of 15m towards Highway side.
15 spans of 15m towards city side.
Retaining wall for the earthwork:
147m towards highway
98m towards City
Super Structure:
T-Beam, deck slab supported on neoprene bearing.
Sub- Structure
RCC pier, RCC abutment and RCC wall.

By the time the preparations for the raising were done, the
state government had completed the work and was ready
for opening the ROB for public. The decision of raising only
the girders increased the speed of work, and this helped in
securing the permission of the state government for closing
the ROB for the lifting work. For the duration of the work, the
level crossing in lieu of which the ROB had been
constructed was kept open to give the alternate way to the
ROB users.
As per planning, the GAD was prepared and submitted to
Western Railway H.Q. design office for approval along with
the original design document to check the stability of ROB
at raised position. The existing sub structure and
foundation were found fit even for the raised girders. After
accepting the approval from H.Q. design office, the GAD
and design was submitted to R&B Department, Gujarat
Government for approval.
5.0 SELECTION OF RAISING SCHEME
The main aim of the scheme made was to execute the work
as speedily as possible to meet the railway's requirements
of early completion of work as well as to mitigate the
problems being faced by the ROB users as early as
possible. The work was a difficult one as handling the PSC
girders requires skill. The spans consisted of multiple Isection PSC girders tied together by RCC deck slab and
diaphragms. All the I-girders have to be raised
simultaneously else the RCC components can very easily
get cracked. Any such failure in the girders would have led
to increase in the time for completing the work. Since the
girders belonged to the state government, the work was to
be done extra cautiously lest the railway's reputation be
sullied during the execution of the work.
It was deemed that the work was of specialized nature,
requiring precise handling of the girders, with adequate
care and safety margins. This required the agency chosen

for the work to be well versed in the ROB works. The

contractors in the area who had constructed large number
of ROBs in the area and one agency who had prior
experience of the raising of the ROB for Mundra Port
authorities were chosen as the parties capable of carrying
out the work, and accordingly, six parties were short listed
and Special Limited tender was called with finance vetting
and PCE approval.
For ensuring safety and speed of the work, the following
points were incorporated in the special conditions:
l

l
l

To avoid differential lifting of the girders, it was

stipulated that the raising of the girders is to be done
using synchronous jacks only. It was specified that the
jacks used shall have single feed.
The jacks with self locking only were permitted.
The contractor had to carry out the work carefully and if
during lifting, there is any damage to the girders due to
differential lifting/ lowering, if any, in the girders the
same were to be repaired at their own cost.
The packing under the girders was planned with steel
stools so that the time required for curing of concrete be
eliminated. The contractor could get the stools
fabricated at workshop independent of the preparations
of the raising work.
There were concerns regarding the strength of the
diaphragms and the seat of bearing to take the jacking
loads. The same is due to the fact that the concrete is
poured in very closely spaced reinforcement at the
location. Unless extra care is taken, the concrete is
likely to be honey combed in this area. In the tender
documents, the repairs of these areas before the start of
work, and using steel plates on top of jack to prevent
failure of concrete were provided for.
The work in railway span was to be done under moving
traffic only, so special conditions were laid down so that
the train safety is not jeopardized at any point of time
due to the work. Special conditions for providing the
scaffolding and supports were laid down for the railway
span.

6.2
6.3
6.4
6.5
6.6
6.7
6.8
6.9
6.10
6.11
6.12
6.13
6.14
6.15
6.16
6.17
6.18
6.19

The process of the lifting of girders hydraulically is a very

interesting activity. It involves precision devices. Each jack
was equipped with a locknut and accompanied by a
pressure gauge, a flow control valve and a solenoid valve
and dial gauges sensors.
The position dial gauges sensor indicates any slant in the
girder to prevent any fracture or tilt while of the girder is
being lifted by the hydraulic lift cylinders. All the hydraulic
cylinders are connected through hydraulic pipe to a
hydraulic pump and a main hydraulic oil distributor to
ensure the equal distribution of pressure to lift the girders.
6.0 EQUIPMENT AND MATERIAL USED
6.1 Hydraulic Jack of different capacity Ranging from
100-300 MT.
100 T 10 Nos.
200 T 10 Nos.
300 T 05 Nos.

Hydraulic Pump of 2 litre per minute capacity with

hand pump.
Hydraulic power pack of 5 litre per minute capacity
with 5 HP motor.
Hydraulic Pipes of different length suitable for
working pressure up to 450 Kg./ sqcm.
Chain Pulley block 4 Nos.of 5 T capacity.
Scaffolding arrangement in sufficient numbers.
Tirfor 2 Nos. of 2 T capacity.
Stair case arrangement.
Wooden blocks in sufficient quantity of different
thickness.
Welding equipment
Portable Grinding Machine with disc.
Portable Chipping Machine.
Two set of hand tools ie , spanners, chisel ,
hammer etc.
Dial gauges 4 Nos.
Electric Generator and lighting system.
Steel packing plates.
Pipes for making tripod.
Guy ropes, Steel ropes, Clamping bolts, Hooks etc.
Safety Slings

EQUIPMENT USED: DRILL MACHINE,

GRINDING MACHINE, TAPE, GAS CUTTER ETC
7.0

COMPUTATIONS FOR CARRYING OUT THE

WORK:

Weight of each Span:

The weight of each span was calculated using the volume
of concrete as per the cross section, and adding lump sum
for the appurtenances. There are three types of spans:
1) Main Railway Span 47m long weight approximately
2100MT.
2) Adjoining Railway Span 15m long - weight
approximately 410MT.
3) Other Approach Span 15m long - weight
approximately 345MT.

29

LOAD ON VARIOUS JACKING LOCATIONS:

1) Main Railway span was having 05 I-girders supported
on 10 pedestals, so there was 210MT load on each
bearing. 300T/200T jacks were used for this span
2) Adjoining Railway Span having 04 I-girders supported
on 08 pedestals, so there was 51.25MT load on each
bearing. 200T jacks were used for this span
3) Other Non Railway Spans having 03 I-girders
supported on 06 pedestals, so there was 57.50MT load
on each bearing. 200T/100T jacks were used for this
span

IDENTIFICATION OF JACKING POINTS

BEARING SIZE:
Railway Span bearing size was 800x520x52 mm. For other
spans, bearing size was 500x320x52mm.
IDENTIFICATION OF JACKING POINT:
Prior to the lifting of the span, jacking point are required to
be identified and detailed design drawing was referred to
conform the position of the Jacking points. Jacking points
are required to be identified because these are only
locations where load can be applied to raise, after
identification of the jacking points number of jack required
and their capacity can be decided. The jacking points were
under the diaphragm and center of jack was approximately
300 mm away from joining line of girder and diaphragm.

CHECKING THE AVAILABLE JACKS:

The safe working pressure of the Hydraulic Jacks should
be checked with the help of testing rig or got tested from
reputed laboratory before using the Hydraulic Jacks. In this
case, Hydraulic jacks were tested on pressure of 450
Kg/cm2 and the working pressure was around 280 Kg/cm2.
All pressure pipes, connected with various jacks and
hydraulic pump should have more capacity than the
ultimate hydraulic pressure in the jacks. Good quality seals
and connectors shall be used else there are chances of
failures are there. In this case, the seals and connectors
from reputed manufacturers were used. Along with the
jacks, all the other arrangements including the locking
arrangement for the jack ram were checked under load.
8.0 PRELIMINARY WORKS
1) Remove all expansion joints between the spans
2) Remove all obstructions such as railings, cables,
pipelines etc.
3) Provide scaffolding arrangement for working platform
at suitable height.
4) The scaffolding shall be strong enough as to not fail/
settle during the execution of the work.
5) Provide arrangements to ensure that nothing falls on
the tracks
6) Inspect the all existing pedestals and remove the
loose concrete or mortar surrounding it.
7) Arrange wooden blocks in sufficient quantity required
during raising of spans.
8) Check the jacking points strength by just gently
hammering the bottom surface. Hollow sound
indicates defects due to the 'Honeycombing defect' in
diaphragm concrete.
9) Mark the position of each girder with respect to
pedestals means marking the clearance between
pedestals and girder. This is very useful to check the
raising of span.
10) Fix the dial gauge at the each end of the span to ensure
the uniform lifting of the span.
11) Steel stool or steel packing plates required to be
used should be fabricated well in advance.

CALCULATION OF NUMBER OF JACK REQUIRED

AND THEIR CAPACITY:
Considering the number of jacking point and weight of the
span to be raised, the number of jack and their capacity was
decided, to raise the span uniformly.
The jacks were chosen with the consideration of 25% more
than the expected load. The load at each end is taken as
60% of the weight of the span. This 25 % extra is a factor of
safety to account for the eccentricity of loading, minor miscalculations, jerks due to mis-handling etc. This factor of
safety is over and above the factor of safety built-in in the
jacks for the rated capacity which is less than the ultimate
load capacity on the jacks.
STEEL STOOL FABRICATION

30

9.0 STAGES IN RAISING OF ROB

9.1

9.2

9.3

9.4

9.5

The jack were placed under the diaphragms of

girders. One jack was provided under each support
point of the diaphragm. The jacks were supported on
the piers. All the jacks were connected with Hydraulic
Distribution connector & all jacks were synchronized.
The Hydraulic pressure through Hydraulic pumps
was applied on jack.
Before starting the lifting operation, it was checked
that there is no obstruction to the smooth lifting. This
includes the gap between the girders taking the tilted
position of the girder into consideration. The span is
lifted by a small amount, say, 2 -3 mm and the equal
lifting of each girder was checked by marking a
reference line on each girder with respect to
pedestal. It is very important that all girders should lift
equally otherwise it may damage the RCC
connecting parts of the span.
If pressure increased beyond working pressure and
the lifting is not taking place, it means that there is
obstruction in the lifting or the jacking load is less than
the load required for raising. In such circumstances,
the Hydraulic system may fail during working, which
may cause damage to girders. If such a situation is
encountered, the lifting is stopped and the
calculations have to be re-done, and the girder is
physically checked for obstructions.
The lifting of Girders was done in stages and after
every lift of 10 mm, the jacks were locked with their
locking arrangement. This is essentially required
because in case of failure of hydraulic system, the
jack shall not come down suddenly.
The one end of span was raised by about 25mm. All
girders were checked with respect to reference point
for uniform lifting. If found uniform then only can be
continued for further lifting upto 50 - 60mm, if not then
rate of lifting at each jack can be altered by altering
the hydraulic pressure.

SPAN LOWERED ON STEEL PLATES / STOOL

9.6

9.7

9.8

9.9

9.10

9.11

9.12

9.13
CLEANING OF PEDESTALS

The jacks were released by placing wooden block

under each girder. Before releasing the jacks,
neoprene bearing under the girder was removed and
pedestal cleaned with the help of wire brush, hand
grinder etc.
The other end of span was raised by about 120mm,
same precaution & method adopted as explained
above. Here it should be ensured that the difference
between the raising of two ends should not be more
than 50-60mm to avoid any development of stress in
the span. At each stage, the equal lifting of each of the
girders shall be measured.
Same cycle is repeated till final raising of the span is
achieved. The raising was calculated at 15-20 mm
more than the final raising of the girders required as
per calculations to account for settlement of packing
etc.
After achieving the required raising of the girder, all
pedestals were cleaned & a layer of epoxy mortar
was applied for smooth & level surface for seating of
stool. Epoxy mortar took around 4-6Hrs. to achieve
the full strength.
After 4-6Hrs, the pre fabricated steel stool/plates
was placed on the pedestal. The neoprene bearing
were already fixed on top of the stool and the span
was lowered in stages to avoid any sudden jerks on
the girders.
The raising was checked for each girder with
respect to previous marking on pedestals. In case of
any discrepancy, additional steel packing plates
could be provided under the stools.
Steel stool/plate were fixed by providing 04
numbers holding down bolts at the corner of steel
stool/plate which were fixed in holes made in
concrete in piers. These were further embedded in
concrete by providing jacketing around pedestals.
The expansion joints, hand railings, and other
appurtenances opened for carrying out the work
were re-provided. Some components of the rubber

31

expansion joints had to be replaced as the old ones

were rendered useless during the removal.
10.0 PROBLEMS FACED DURING EXECUTION:
10.1 HONEYCOMBED CONCRETE AT DIAPHRAGM:
As was apprehended beforehand, during lifting of
spans, it was found that quite a few spans had badly
honey combed concrete in the diaphragms. When
load was applied at jacking point, the concrete
cracked and reinforcement got exposed. The
diaphragm was made fit for applying load, by using
epoxy mortar. It was good that the failure took place in
the initial lifting only. If the failure had taken place after
some lifting was achieved, damage to the girders was
possible.
10.2 HYDRAULIC HAND PUMPS ARE INSUFFICIENT
TO LIFT HEAVY SPANS: The work was done using
hand operated pumps. However, due to the very
heavy girders, the progress was very slow. The efforts
required for operation of the jacks was also very
much. It would have expedited the work if motorized
low flow rate pump were used.
11.0 CONCLUSION:
Due to the proper precautions taken, and careful working,
the extremely difficult work of raising the PSC girders tied

REPAIRING HONEY COMBING DEFECT BY

EPOXY MORTAR
by RCC deck slab and diaphragms by 450 mm could be
accomplished within a period of 45 days. The contractor's
engineers, workers were skilled and adopted good
practices for the handling of the jacks and lifting work and
due to them only such a difficult work could be done without
any mishap and without any problem for the trains or the
girders. In such intricate works, therefore, the key to getting
the work executed is meticulous planning, disciplined
working and a no-risk approach.

OVER 650000M3 CONCRETE PRODUCED IN 12 MONTHS.

The Ghatghar pumped Storage Project is a hydraulic power generation project sponsored by the
irrigation Department, Government of Maharashtra, India. It is made up of two reservoirs of different
heights. The upper basin consists of three dams two saddle dams and the upper dam. The lower dam
forms the lower lying basin.
During the construction of 86 m high and 450m long lower dam, approximately 650000m3 of concrete
was manufactured by three Stetter mixing plants. The systems concerned were two type HN3-0
(120m3/hr) plants and one type HN 4.0(160 m3/hr), which were all linked together. The plants were
equipped with two shaft, forced action mixers and a Stetter type MCI 300 control system. Their
3
maximum monthly performance peaked at over 90000m with a maximum daily output in the region of
3
3
46000m . On averge, the mixers produced 51000 m of concrete per month.

WORLD'S TALLEST TOWER ?

The Burj Dubai Skyscraper under construction here reached its 100th story early two thirds of the way in its relentless
climb to become the world's tallest building. With 3000 laborers adding a new floor nearly every three days.
When finished in two years, the silvery steel and glass building is expected to rise beyond 2300 feet and more than
160 floors dozens of stories taller than the world's current tallest building, the Taipei 101 tower in Taiwan, which
measures 1671 feet. In addition, it will assume the title of the world's tallest structure, surpassing tallest free
standing structure on land Toronto CN Tower and the guyed KVLY-TV mast in North Dakota, the latter setting a
minimum height for the tower at almost 630m. Emaar isn't releasing its plans for the final height of the Burj Dubai so it
can add more stories if a competing developer mounts a challenge.

32