Chingrighata girder launching likely over next two weekends
Times of India | 18 November 2025
Kolkata: The long-awaited girder-launching for the Orange Line at Chingrighata is likely to be done over the coming weekend and the next, cops have told RVNL. The work was due to start last Friday, but cops pleaded helplessness because of the force mobilisation and arrangements needed for the cricket match.
Instead, they offered to grant a continuous six-day traffic block on weekdays. However, RVNL insists that as per construction protocol, the girder-launching scheme must be done in two phases with a break in between.
Quoting the minutes of a joint meeting held at Metro Bhavan on Sept 9 and a Calcutta High Court order passed on Sept 18, Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), the implementing agency of the 32 km New Garia-Airport Orange Line corridor, has sought NOC for temporary traffic diversion for segment launching between piers 317, 318, and 319 at Chingrighata crossing for three nights during the second and third weekend nights of Nov, to facilitate bridging the last 366 m gap at the Chingrighata crossing.
The work was supposed to take place on Feb 2 but was stalled because NOC for cordoning off a part of the busy EM Bypass crossing was unavailable from Kolkata Police.
"As per the court's instructions, RVNL prepared itself for the pending girder-launching work to resume last weekend. RVNL has written three letters to the traffic department, reminding them of the High Court directive. No written response came from the cops, who agreed to convene a meeting on the issue last Wednesday, but no positive response was forthcoming. Now the traffic department has verbally agreed to hand over the site over the next two weekend nights," a Railways official said.