Afcons Launches Mumbai Metro Line-5’s OWG Bridge at Anjurphata

Afcons Infrastructure this week completed launching a 65 meter long open web girder (OWG) bridge for Mumbai Metro’s 24.9 km Line-5 (Orange Line) connecting Thane – Bhiwandi – Kalyan.

This steel bridge weighing 456 MT was fabricated by Eurocoustic Products in Daman, and was launched over the Indian Railways’ Vasai – Diva railway line at Anjurphata. The exact location on Line-5’s viaduct is between Purna & Anjurphata metro stations (view on Google Maps).

The bridge is 12.7m wide and 10.2m tall, and consists of 30,000+ HSFG bolts. It was slowly pulled into position on top of Piers P328 – P329 using multiple Strand Jacks and Hillman Rollers with a nose arrangement.

The OWG’s launch on-site was carried out in two stages over 8 days.

• First Stage Launching: Completed on April 2 (Railway Block – 1st April) at 04:20 AM, with 44 meters of the OWG pulled into position.
• Final Completion: Achieved on April 10 (Railway Block – 9th April 2025) at 03.00 AM, successfully positioned the entire 65-meter OWG girder.

The OWG bridge forms a crucial part of 12.811 km Package CA-28 (Line-5A) which connects Kapurbawadi and Bhiwandi. It consists of 7 stations en route at Kapurbawadi, Balkum Naka, Kasheli, Kalher, Purna, Anjurphata, and Dhamankar Naka.

Afcons in the past has completed launching two steel composite girders (57.5m and 46m long), and completed launching segments for a 550m bridge over Kasheli Creek.

The line’s viaduct is almost ready. As of Saturday, Afcons had launched 682/692 U-girders for the viaduct and 108/108 U-girders for its stations. The very first one was launched near Balkum Naka Metro Station’s site in March 2021.

At this time I see Mumbai’s Orange Line opening for commercial operations no sooner than Q4 2027 since technical bid evaluation is still underway for its systems Package-1 (CA-241). That mega systems contract includes supplying rolling stock (132 coaches), CBTC signaling & train control (S&T), telecommunication, platform screen doors (PSDs), and depot machinery & plant (M&P) for Kasheli Depot.

A list of all Orange Line’s packages (civil & systems) and their status can be viewed here.

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– TMRG