BRIDGES & STRUCTURES DIRECTORATE

CURRENT ACTIVITIES
• Guidelines for running of 25t axle load train on bridges.
• Scrutiny of zonal railways reports on Instrumentation of Bridges to assess the effect of Heavy
Axle Loading.
• Design of standard drawings for 25t loading – 2008 and DFC loading (32.5t axle load).
• Inspection of steel girders of open web girders and welded plate girders as per standard
drawings.
• Updation of vendor list of manufacturers for Open Web Girder & Welded Girder, Pot PTFE
Bearing, Elastomeric Bearing and Expansion Joints.
• Review of Codes
• Research Projects with IITs
• Development of Guidelines on Issues Rrelated with Maintenance of bridges

ACHIVEMENTS OF 2008-09
 
1.0  Heavy Axle Load Operation:
 
  • Load model and fatigue design criteria for design of bridges on DFC routes has been
developed and approved by Railway Board.
  • Correction Slip No. 38 to IRS Bridge Rules for design of bridges for 25 t axle load has
been issued vide this office letter no. CBS/PBR dated 31-07-2008.
  • Correction Slip No. 39 to IRS Bridge Rules for design of bridges for 32.5 t axle load has
been issued vide this office letter no. CBS/PBR dated 22-10-2008.
  • Associated with Zonal Railways for Instrumentation of Bridges to assess the actual
loadings on the bridges and to access the capacity of bridges to carry Heavy Axle
Loading
.
2.0  Codes, Manual & Specifications:
 
  • A&C Slip No.38 to IRS Bridge Rules regarding 25t loading (BG) has been issued on 31-
07-2008.
  •   A&C Slip No. 39 to IRS Bridge Rules regarding DFC loading (32.5t axle load) has been
issued on 22-10-2008.
  •   A&C Slip No. 40 to IRS Bridge Rules regarding rebuilding strengthening of bridges has
been issued on 27-01-2009.
  •   A&C Slip No.27 to IRS Bridge Sub-Structures and Foundation Code regarding Review
of Cl. No. 4.4, Cl. No. 4.8.3 (ii) and Cl. No. 4.9.2 issued on 24-03-2008.
  •   A&C Slip No.28 to IRS Bridge Sub-Structures and Foundation Code regarding Review
of Cl. No. 5.8.1 issued on 26-11-2008.
  •   A&C Slip No.13 to Indian Railway Bridge Manual regarding approval of bridge drawings
for doubling, gauge conversions, new lines and other bridge works issued on 22-01-
2008.
  •   A&C Slip No.14 to Indian Railway Bridge Manual regarding provision of safety to
foundations protection works, training works, reduction in clearance and free board from
economical consideration issued on 20-03-2008.
  •   A&C Slip No.15 to Indian Railway Bridge Manual regarding minimum factor of safety
with static or dynamic formula issued on 05-08-2008.
  •   A&C Slip No.16 to Indian Railway Bridge Manual regarding general arrangement
drawings for all bridges issued on 13-08-2008.
  •   A&C Slip No.17 to Indian Railway Bridge Manual regarding insert Para No. 318 issued
on 15-09-2008.
  •   A&C Slip No.18 to Indian Railway Bridge Manual regarding dismantling of Arch Bridge
issued on 17-12-2008.
  •   A&C Slip No.3 to Fabrication and Erection of Steel Girder Bridges and Locomotive
Turntables (B-1/2001) regarding Fabrication and Erection of steel girder issued on 25-
03-2008.
  •   A&C Slip No.4 to Fabrication and Erection of Steel Girder Bridges and Locomotive
Turntables (B-1/2001) regarding Grade designation of steel issued on 31-07-2008.
  •   A&C Slip No.1 to Manual on the Design and Construction of Well and Pile Foundation
regarding Para No. 17, 1.8, 1.10, 2.4.1, (b) 2.5.3, 2.5.3 and 2.5.4 issued on 26-09-2008.
  •   IRS Bridge Rules has been updated and issued incorporating correction slips up to 39.
IRS Bridge Rules has been updated after 1989.
  •   IRS Specification for Fabrication and Erection of Steel Girder Bridges and Locomotive
Turn-tables Serial No.B1-2001 has been reprinted incorporating A&C Slip upto 4.
3.0 Bridge Standards Committees:
3.1  16th Extra Ordinary BSC meeting was held on 23 & 24 June 2008 at IRICEN, Pune. Total 31
items were discussed in connection with revision/updating of IRS Concrete Bridge Code. Some
of the important items discussed by the Committee are as under:
 
  i)  Review of IRS: CBC as per recommendations of BTDG.
  ii)  Clause No. 5.4.1 of IRS CBC regarding minimum grade of concrete based on durability
consideration and clauses affected on this account.
  iii)  Dismantling of single span and multi span arch bridges.

3.2 78th Bridge Standard Committee meeting was held on 20th & 21st January, 2009 at Puducherry,
S.Railway. In the meeting, 10 new items and 64 review items were deliberated. Detailed
deliberation took place on “Revision of Fatigue Provisions” in IRS Steel Bridge Code based on
study done by IIT/Roorkee. Committee has recommended for adoption of proposed provisions
being rational and in line with provisions in international codes. Minutes of BSC meeting have
been issued.
 
4.0  Development of Standard Designs: 
4.1 Steel Structures Designs:
   
  •   Design and drawings of 12.2m, 18.3m, and 24.4m steel plate girder welded type for 10
million cycle for “25t loading – 2008”.
  •   Design and drawings of 12.2m and 18.3m steel plate girder welded type for 10 million
cycle for “DFC loading (32.5t axle load)”.
  •   Design and drawings of welded type open web girder for 30.5m and 45.7m for 10 million
cycle for “25t loading – 2008”.
 

30.5m Span "25t Loading (25t Axle Load)" 10x106 Cycles

4.2 Concrete Structures Designs:

   
  •   Design & drawing of 3.05m, 3.66m, 4.57m, 6.1m and 9.15m pre-tensioned slab for “25t
loading – 2008”.
  •   Design & drawing of 12.2m and 18.3m I Girder for “25t loading – 2008”.

18.3m I Girder for “25t loading – 2008”

  •   Design & drawing of 6.1m pre-tensioned slab for “DFC loading (32.5t axle load)”.
  •   Design and drawings of RCC slab for spans of 0.61m, 0.915m, 1.22m, 1.83m and 2.44m
for “25t- loading 2008”.
  •   Design and drawings of RCC slab for spans of 0.61m, 0.915m, 1.22m, 1.83m and 2.44m
for “DFC Loading (32.5 t axle Load)”.
  •   General arrangement drawing for limited height subway using segmental boxes.
  •   Provisional general arrangement drawing for segmental RCC boxes for limited use subway
has been developed and sent to Zonal Railways for adoption on trial basis. A copy of the
drawing has also been sent to Railway Board for approval in terms of recommendation of
77th BSC held at Goa.
  •   RDSO has examined the use of FE-500 or higher grade of steel in concrete structure and
detailed clarification in this regard have been issued to all Zonal Railways.

5.0  BS Publications issued:

 
  Following technical reports have been published during this period:
 
  •   BS-90 - Study of probable cause of cracks in different members and assessment of
Residual Fatigue Life of Bridge No. 46 Up/Mid Line near Bilaspur.
  •   BS-91 - Guidelines for Assessment of Residual Fatigue Life of Steel Girder Bridges.
  •   BS-92 - Measurement of Vibration of the Piers of the Bridge Nos. 9 & 7 on Gorakhpur-
Panihawa Section of N.E. Railway.
  •   BS-93 - Condition Assessment of the Piers of Bridge No. 133, 165 and 263 on Hassan –
Manglore section S.W. Railway.
  •   BS-94 - Non Destructive Test on newly constructed DRM Office Building at Agra Cantt.
N.C. Railway.
  •   BS-95 - Assessment of Residual Life of Girders of Bridge No. 5A Up/Dn (Setlej Bridge),
near Ludhiana.
  •   BS-96 - Guidelines on Underwater Inspection of Bridges.
  •   BS-97 - Assessment of Residual Fatigue Life of Girders of Bridge No. 1554 Up near
Vijianagram, East Coast Railway.
  •   BS-98 - Inspection of Bridge No.49, Asansol Division, Eastern Railway by RDSO.
  •   BS-99 - Inspection of Bridge No.178, Ajmer Division, North Western Railway by RDSO.
  •   BS-100 - Monitoring Report of bridges on operation of BOXN wagons loaded upto
CC+8+2t/CC+6+2t as pilot project on identified routes.
  •   BS-101 - Non Destructive Testing of road over bridge in lieu of level crossing no.27 at
Etawah, Allahabad Division, N.C. Railway.

6.0 Technical Reports issued:

   
  •   Report on inspection of bridge No. 173 of N.F. Railway
  •   Report on cracks noticed in 30.5m underslung girder of bridge no. 46 of S.E.C Railway
designed to RDSO’s Drg. No. BA-6081.
  •   Inspection of PSC 30.5m box girder bridge (Bridge No.140) near Bhilwara of Ajmer
Division on N.W.Rly.
  •   Crushing/cracking of bed blocks in Sakleshpur-Subrahumanya Road Ghat section of
Hasan-Mangalore section.
  •   Cracks in piers and abutments of Br.No.133, 165 & 263 in Sakleshpur-Subramanya Road
of S.W.Railway.
  •   Cracks in channel sleeper on 8 Degree Curve on bridges on Hasan-Mangalore section.
  •   Draft Guidelines on Satellite Imagery Studies prepared and issued to all Zonal Railways for
remarks vide letter no.RBF/NRSA dated 28.11.08.
7.0  Consultancy/Proof checking Works
7.1  B&S Directorate has made extraordinary effort to analyze the exiting 30.5m span under-slung
MGML girder of Bridge No. 89 on ECR for MBG loading and proof checked the scheme to make
it fit for MBG loading at 30 kmph. EC Railway has been able to make a saving of about 40
crores in terms of money and at least four years in terms of time. 
7.2  This Directorate is also involved in the process of development of design criteria of design of
special bridges and structures and proof checking of Bridges & Structures. Some of the recent
important bridges where proof checking of the design was carried out by the Directorate are as
below: 
  •   Proof checking of Bhagirathi Bridge of E.Rly.
  •   Proof checking of Bogibeel Bridge of N,.F.Railway.
  •   Proof checking of PSC Box Girder span 43.8m on Haridaspur Paradeep New Railway Line
for RVNL
8.0 E-Documentation and Software Development:
   
  •   RDSO has brought out a CD of E-documentation of all the proceedings of BSC since 1925.
  •   To rationalize the provisions of EUDL in IRS Bridge Rules, RDSO has developed user
friendly software “Moving Load and after detailed validation, it has been issued to all Zonal
Railways along with guidelines for using the software.
9.0 Research Project Completed:
 
Revision of fatigue provisions in IRS Steel Bridge Code:
This project has been completed. Detailed deliberation took place in 78th BSC Meeting in
January 2009 on Revisions of fatigue provision in IRS Steel Bridge Code based on studies done
by IIT/Roorkee. There was a consensus that proposed provisions being rational should be
adopted for fatigue assessment of steel bridges.
 
10.0 Technical Guidelines:
 
RDSO has issued following Draft Guidelines to all Zonal Railways for remarks.
 
  •   Guidelines on Satellite Imagery Studies.
  •   Guidelines on the Acoustic Emission Testing of Railway Bridges.
  •   Guidelines on Under Water Inspection of Bridges.
  •   Guidelines on fabrication on FOB.
  •   Guidelines on Residual Fatigue Life Assessment of Steel Girder Bridges.
11.0 Inspection of Fabrication of Steel Girders:
  Till date, RDSO has done inspection of 12000 MT of Fabrication works of Steel Girders of
different Zonal Railways.

12.0 Training:
  RDSO organized a training on fabrication and erection on steel bridge girder at Bridge Training
Institute at Mugulsarai & Manmad in April, 08.

13.0 Instrumentation of Railway Bridges:

  The detailed analysis of instrumentation reports received from Zonal Railways has been done
and summary is as below:

13.1  Salient features of Instrumentation:

  •   Total number of bridges planned for instrumentation = 80
  •   Total number of bridges planned for CC+8+2 t = 51
  •   Total number of bridges planned for CC+6+2 t = 29
  •   So far out of 320 readings ( 80 Bridges) to be taken,131 readings ( 60 Bridges) have been
taken by the Zonal Railways and 64 reports have been received by RDSO which have
been analysed.
13.2  Assessment for Fatigue life:
  •   Most plate girders (except 30.5 m span) and under-slung bridges are estimated to have
high fatigue life (> 200 years).
  •   For two bridges (345 and 544) of 30.5 m spans, the fatigue life estimated is 70 years and
100 years respectively.
  •   For most Through Girders, fatigue life has been estimated between 10 to 80 years.
  •   Rail bearers are the most critical members in through girders while end raker for under-
slung girders.