Box pushing technique:

A case study of Fathenagar Road Under Bridge in

South Central Railway
By
M.V.S.Rama Raju *

SYNOPSIS
Box pushing method is one of the safe methods for construction of bridges under running track. However
with the increase in size of boxes, the same may result in development of unsafe conditions while pushing.
This paper presents a case study of one Box pushing in S.C.Railway where collapse of formation occurred
ahead of cutting edge and how advance planning helped in ensuring safety and restoration of track.

Introduction
The Road Under Bridge between Fathenagar and Nature
cure hospital MMTS stations in Secunderabad Wadi
section has been taken up as a deposit work for Greater
Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, as a part of link road
project connecting Rajbhavan Road to Balkampet, to ease
traffic congestion in this area of Hyderabad City. SC WD
section is a busy double line section especially up to
Lingampally, where MMTS trains operate.
The RUB consists of 2 vents (opening) of 11.0 m x 4.89 m
inside dimensions to cater for 2 lane traffic in each
direction. The earth cushion over the box on up line side is
1.0 m and on Dn line side is 0.70 m as the two tracks are at
different levels at the RUB location.
2.0.

pockets for pushing.

Front cutting shield with 25mm thick M.S. plates & 1.25
m projection.

Rear shield with 12mm plate all round.

Drag sheets are provided in 2 layers with 0.8 mm thick

each.

Pushing of segments is done with hydraulic jacks of

200 t capacity.

Drainage arrangements being provided by GHMC.

Salient features:

The RUB consists of 2 vents of 11.00 X 4.89 m. inside

size and wall thickness of 0.90 m (outer size -12.80 X
6.69 m.)

The boxes are proposed in three segments for each

vent.

Length of each vent= 29 m & thus total box length

= 58 m.

Boxes are made with M 35 concrete.

Thrust bed of size 14.70 X13.00 m and 14.40 m X17.00

m with M.25 concrete and provided with 102 pin

* Dy.Chief Engineer,
Construction/I, Secunderabad

Fig.1: General view of the Boxes after casting.

IRICEN JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

39

3.0.

Box pushing operation:

The thrust beds of required size and designed

thickness were cast with
M25 concrete. Pin
pockets of 0.5m x 0.50m x 0.6m size are provided at
suitable spacing for jacking arrangements. The sides
of pin pockets are provided with 6mm thick M.S.Plate
to take the thrust. The pin pockets are then filled with
sand and small layer of screed concrete is placed on
them to get smooth surface for casting of Box
elements.
Reference line pillars and TBMs are fixed on the
approach to control alignment and level while
pushing.

One layer of plastic sheet is spread on the thrust bed

where the box is cast. A layer of grease is applied on it
and again one more layer of plastic sheet is kept. Box
elements are cast on this, so that friction is reduced
while pushing.

Entire box concreting done with RMC during nights

only since the site is in the heart of the city. The top of
the box was painted with epoxy paint after casting to
reduce friction.

With in the box excavation was done with excavator.

The excavated earth was lifted by winches and
stacked during the day time.
The same was
transported out during nights. Hard granite rock was

Fig.2: Pushing with Hydraulic Jacks

40

met with at bottom layer and also some big boulders at

several locations. The same was removed using
pavement breakers.

Initially two elements were cast on both thrust beds.

After pushing one element, the element from the other
bed was side slewed to maintain continuity of pushing.

Pushing was done with the help of hydraulic jacks.

All the S & T cables were protected before pushing.

Sufficient ballast was unloaded with the help of

division before taking up the pushing.

4.0 Additional constraints at this site :

The approach roads were not ready. There is a

difference of 5 m from existing road level to box
bottom. So the excavated earth has to be lifted to
Road level as trucks cannot go, since there is no
space even for ramp on Fathenagar side.

This is a heavily built up city area. All transportation

has to be done during nights only.

Very limited area available for the work and stacking of

materials.

Hard Granite rock has been met at bottom of box which

slowed down rate of pushing.

Seepage of drainage water from adjoining areas

5.0 General Safety precautions taken at site.

Round the clock watch man posted to ensure safety of

trains.

One P.way gang with experienced supervisor kept on

track to attend any track disturbance during
pushing.

9000 Nos. of filled ballast, sand and moorum bags kept

at site.

Ensuring cutting edge always buried in the earth.

Alignment and level of box checked daily. Any

correction required was immediately carried out in the
next push by suitably adjusting the pressure in the
jacks and by ensuring proper bottom level of
excavation.

Jacking operation stopped while passing a train.

Track drainage water is diverted.

Drag sheet arrangement - strengthened.

Fixing of cutting edge strengthened.

6.0 Additional safety measures taken at this site:

Second cutting edge: As the size of the box is large,

based on the past experience a second cutting edge
has been provided at 2 m below the top cutting edge
and both are interconnected with stiffener plates. This
helped in supporting the formation / slope in case of
soft soils and emergencies.

Insertion of rails between sleepers before hand: To

take care of any local collapse of formation ahead of
cutting edge the running track was supported with
cross rails in between the sleepers. One end of these
rails was supported on the box and the other end on
the formation with the help of wooden blocks. This will
help in immediate transfer of load from the running rails
to formation in case of any local sinking under the
sleepers, while passing of the trains.

Use of Turfers & Jacks: While pushing the box, there

may be disturbance to the track alignment and level.
The disturbance in alignment was minimized by the
use of turfers & jacks duly applying force in opposite
direction.

Use of channel pieces on rails: While pushing, the

track gets lifted up. The running rails can be quickly
supported by placing channel pieces of different sizes
on the pre-placed rails between sleepers and the trains
can be allowed before full attention to the track.

Applying grease to drag sheets: The friction between

the drag sheets and the box can be reduced by

applying grease to the drag sheets at the point of drag

sheet rolls.
7.0 Problems encountered while pushing:

Collapse of over burden ahead of cutting edge: While

pushing the second segment a cavity of 0.6m x 0.6m
was formed under down line ahead of cutting edge at
13.30 hours on 9.10.2010 due to presence of sand
pockets under the track. This had increased to 9m x
3m by 18.00 hours. The track was immediately
supported with additional rails and ISMBs through out
the length and moorum and sand bags were provided
over the intermediate cutting edge and top cutting
edge. ISMBs & channels were driven in to formation
on one end and rested on the cutting edge on the other
end. Then sand bags were placed on these beams.
Box pushing was continued without removing these
ISMBs since they were simply resting on the cutting
edge. SR of 10 Kmph imposed on down line and the
trains were passed safely without any detention. SR
was relaxed to 20 KMPH on 18.10.2010. This was
possible only with the help of second cutting edge and
cross rails placed in advance.

Shearing of drag sheets : This may be due to restricted

movement of drag sheets which are pressed between
cutting edge and soil of the formation, pressing against
boulders present in the formation, not able to withstand
the forces developed during pushing etc.

Fig.3: Formation of hole ahead of cutting edge.

41

Fig.4: Collapse of formation ahead of cutting edge.

Fig.5: Support of track from first and

second cutting edges

Fig.6: Support of track on Rails & ISMBs

8.0 Conclusion:
Various unexpected situations are likely to occur during
the box pushing operations. Since the safety of running
trains is directly affected, proper planning and
implementation is essential for smooth completion of work.
Advance analysis of site, likely problems that may arise
and planning to tackle the same will help the executive for
speedy and safe completion of the work.
Acknowledgements:
1) I thank Sri S.K.Sharma, CAO/C/SC, and Chief
Engineers during construction Sri R.K.Meena, and Sri

42

K.Venkateswara Rao for their guidance and valuable

suggestions during their inspections while executing
the work.
2) I specially thank Sri Pradeep Kumar, PCE/SC who has
inspected site twice during execution and suggested
various measures for fixing of drag sheets including
rollers under drag sheets, greasing of drag sheets,
placing of channels over supporting rails etc.,for
smooth and safe completion of the work.
3) I thank Sri A.K.Gupta, XEN/C/SC and
Sri
N.Radhakishan, SSE/W/SC for meticulous execution
of work as per planning.