Central Railway officials said that the dismantling of Carnac bridge is progressing as per their schedule and that they have completed 50% of the work since they began the work Saturday night.
The officials said, "The work is going on war footing and we will try to complete work as per given timeline by Sunday at 4 pm on Mainline, by 8 pm on Harbour line and by 2am on Monday November 21 on yard lines."
27-hour-block undertaken to dismantle the heritage bridge
The CR had earlier announced that they will be undertaking a 27-hour-block on November 19 - November 20 during which the services between CSMT to Byculla, Wadala [Harbour Line] have been suspended.
The block began on November 19, Saturday, at 11 pm.
Apart from that, to avoid traffic congestion, 18 pairs of Mail Express trains have been cancelled and 68 mail Express trains have been either short terminated or short-originated at Dadar, Panvel, Pune and Nashik stations during the block period.
Railway declares bridge unsafe in 2015
The bridge is being dismantled since the Railway officials found it unsafe for traffic in 2015. Nod from the Mumbai Traffic Police came on August 19 this year and the bridge was closed from September 1.
Since September, around 1,440 tonnes of asphalt, concrete, and other debris have been shaved and disposed of from the bridge's surface, measuring 50m in length and 8m in width.
Here on, other than inter department coordination and with other government agencies, there are three contractors involved in the dismantling process. They will be responsible for overhead equipment, lighting and dismantling.
Before the work commences, the over head electrical wires will have to be removed and according to the plan, the railway officials will take two hours to remove electrical equipment and take another four hours at the end to restore the same.
Iconic structure will be divided into seven spans
The heritage bridge that has to be removed weighs 450 tonnes and will be divided into seven spans. Authorities have planned to cut these seven spans into 44 pieces over a period of 27 hours.
