A footbridge at Dadar near the Churchgate end has finally been removed after being declared dangerous. Given the fact that the station is usually very busy with foot traffic, the dismantling of the corroded bridge proved to be a challenge for the officials. Last week, the bridge was separated from the foundations and was finally removed. Officials have already managed to construct a new bridge nearby.
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“Dadar is always crowded and hence it was difficult to remove the bridge. This is the best use of the lockdown. Two years ago, a joint audit conducted by IIT-Bombay and Western Railway on 115 foot over bridges saw 16 of them declared to be closed based on their structural analysis. Of these 16, 13 have now been dismantled, eight this year itself,” the Chief Public Relations Officer at Western Railway, Sumit Thakur said.
He added that closing down the foot overbridges and reconstructing them within the allotted time were the biggest challenges. He said that it required meticulous planning given that they also had to ensure the safety of the trains that were running under the dilapidated bridge.
With this in mind, officials reportedly constructed the replacements first and only then removed the dangerous structures from the location.
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Thakur said that the new bridges have an increased width of 10-12 meters to allow more commuters to pass through. “A few of the older bridges had archaic trusses with pin-jointed structures. Inspection and maintenance of such pin-jointed structures is [sic] difficult. In addition to removal and rebuilding of foot over bridges, WR has also completed repairs of 36 of them,” he added.
Western Railway’s Mumbai suburban section has a total of 138-foot overbridges. Over the course of the COVID-19 lockdowns last year, officials have commissioned 14 new foot overbridges and one skywalk along with an extension of the footbridge at Bandra Terminus.
Further, officials are working on the Delisle Road foot overbridge close to the Lower Parel Station while works are also underway at the Frere Road overbridge near Grant Road Station.
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