GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (RAILWAY BOARD) Instruction No.18 /2019 No. 2015/CE-IV/ROB/78 (Pt.) ‘New Delhi Dt: 04.06.2019 Principal Chief Engineer, & Chief Administrative Officer (Con.), All Zonal Railways, MD, DFCCIL, CMD, RVNL, CMD, IRCON. Sub: Failure of non-standard Bow string girder bridge (ROB). Ref: (i) Board’s letter of even number dated 21.05.2018 (i) Board’s letter of even number dated 04.06.2018 Failure of Bow string girder bridge (ROB) has been reported by North Central Railway. The approval of bow string girder (non standard) was given by Railway in 2015. The design of the ROB was proof-checked by ISc/Bangalore and the construction of the ROB was completed & commissioned in 2018. ‘The said bridge has now failed at joints within 4-6 months of its service. This puts a big question mark on the system of proof checking from outside agencies (even from premier institutes of India). In this particular case, non standard girder has been adopted, whereas, drawing of RDSO standard girder of nearest span was already available. As such, the standard girder could have been adopted with minor modification in pier location at site. Similar failure has also been reported by Northern Railway. Both CBEs had confirmed telephonically of having adequately protected the track at these 2 locations. Detailed report be submitted by CBE/NCR & NR towards these failures. Instructions were already issued to Zonal Railways (ref. (i) & (ii)) that “only RDSO standard span” will be used. It was expected that Zonal Railways are following the instructions. Para A(6), B(2) & B(3) of MoU between MoR and MoRTH dated 10.11.2014 also stipulates regarding use of RDSO standard spans: “Para A (6): MORTH/NHAI should construct only viaduct in Railway Portion and pier/abutment should be located just out-side/at the railway boundaries to the extent possible based on available standard RDSO’s span. Para B (2): Ministry of Railways has developed a web-based programme for online submission for getting expeditious approval of various drawings related to Page 1 of 2ROBs/RUBs within 60 days. This programme includes all the RDSO standard span drawings, check list to be followed for preparation of GAD and standard MoU. Para B (3): To avoid unusual occurrence during launching of railway spans, Railway will supervise and facilitate launching of girders across railway bridge portion, without any supervision charges.” However, while position has been taken from different Zonal Railways through Whatsapp, it is observed that number of non standard bow string girders exists in Railway system. The position of girder as conveyed by Zonal Railways is as under: Ry, [CR [ER | BCR | ECoR [oR NER | NWR [ SR | SCR | SER | SECR | SWR|WR[WCR] o wos[oti]2f]o fit2|[2{o|,o ofotofo jolo] Zonal Railway to recheck/re-verify the above position and these girders are to be immediately checked from safety point of view & remedial action taken. Status be informed to this office latest by 15.06.2019. Following decisions are reiterated for immediate implementation: i, Only RDSO approved standard span bow string girder will be adopted. ii, In rare to rare case, if it is unavoidable to use non standard span, then the design should be finally cleared by RDSO only. Railway Board should be intimated for use of this non standard design. The above can be easily implemented at the initial stage of approval of GAD (by CBEs of your Railway). i woh a (Subodh xu Director CE/B8S-1 Copy to: GMs of Zonal Railways for information. Page 2 of 2