Nagpur Metro Phase-II has entered a critical construction stage with Maha Metro building a 257-metre bridge over three railway lines at Uppalwadi, approximately 24 metres above the ground, to extend connectivity towards Kamptee. The elevated structure is being assembled without scaffolding beneath the railway corridor using the balanced cantilever method.
The bridge forms part of Reach-2A, a 6.92-kilometre corridor running from the existing Phase-I endpoint towards Lekha Nagar near Asha Hospital on the Kamptee route. The stretch is the longest corridor planned under Phase-II, according to the report by Times of India – Nagpur.
The structure will cross the Godhani-Kalamna, Chhindwara-Nagpur and Khaparkheda railway lines under South East Central Railway. Its design consists of a 110-metre central span directly above the railway crossing, flanked by spans measuring 74 metres and 73 metres, taking the total bridge length to 257 metres.
A senior Maha Metro official said the balanced cantilever technique allows the bridge to be extended horizontally from supporting pillars instead of relying on extensive temporary supports from the ground. Concrete segments are cast successively on either side of each pier and connected using post-tensioning technology so that the structure remains balanced as construction progresses.
Maha Metro has completed the bridge’s substructure, while superstructure work has begun at the Kamptee end. A specialised 40-tonne machine is being used to construct the bridge section by section. Each concrete segment measures between 2.5 metres and 3.175 metres in length, while its thickness varies from 3 metres to 6.25 metres depending on structural requirements.
A 150-tonne crane is lifting steel rods and other construction materials to the tops of the supporting pillars. At the Nagpur end, workers are constructing a 10.5-metre-long concrete platform known as a hammerhead. Once the platform is ready, a form traveller will be installed on it to begin extending the bridge towards the railway crossing.
The construction method avoids placing scaffolding or other large temporary structures over the busy railway lines. This limits ground-level obstruction while work continues above the tracks and around traffic movement near Uppalwadi. The approach is particularly relevant to a bridge whose central span must be constructed directly over active railway infrastructure.
Work is being carried out in day and night shifts as the project moves into the superstructure phase. Once completed, the bridge will remove a major railway-crossing constraint on Reach-2A and support the planned extension of Nagpur Metro services towards Kamptee. Maha Metro’s next construction milestone is the installation of the form traveller at the Nagpur-end hammerhead, followed by successive assembly of the remaining bridge segments.
