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Our Bureau

Curbs on rail, vehicular traffic; panel to assess damage

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Kochi Feb. 25 The Cochin Port Trust has constituted a high-level technical committee to assess the extent and nature of the damage caused to the Venduruthy Bridge, which was hit by a dredger on Saturday afternoon.

The committee will comprise the Chief Engineer of the port, Superintending Engineer of Kerala PWD, Senior Divisional Engineer of Southern Railway and the representative of the Southern Naval Command. The committee has been asked to submit its report within three days.

The incident occurred while the Dredger Kamal XXVIII, a dredger that was brought to Kochi for dredging operations in south and reclamation area of Willingdon Island, was trying to move beneath the bridge. The dredger was being towed and while approaching the bridge, the towline snapped as a result of which the dredger went out of control and came to rest against piers of the bridge.

It may be recalled that it was the same dredger that had collided against the bridge two and a half years ago, forcing the district administration to construct a parallel bridge to Venduruthy.

As a precautionary measure, the authorities have decided to suspend all vehicular and railway traffic over the bridge except two and three wheelers. The damage caused to the bridge will affect the movement of containers and bulk cargo by rail to and from the port from various Inland Container Depots in the southern part of the country.

It was also arranged to carry out an underwater inspection and photography of the piers No. 57 to 68 for technical analysis.

The port will also make arrangements to ply additional boat services to meet the requirements of the commuters between the mainland and western Kochi side.

More Stories on : Infrastructure | Accidents | Shipping | Kerala

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