Central Railway (CR) officials have decided to shut down a foot overbridge (FOB) at Kalyan- end of Dombivli station from April 1, 2019, onwards and it will be replaced with a new six-metre-wide FOB. Currently, there are three FOBs at the station and it has around 3.5 lakh commuters daily. With the construction in the process the passengers are advised to use the other two FOBs at Dombivli station until the new one is ready.
Local activists from Dombivli have said that the demand to close the old FOB was proposed long back. However, following the CSMT tragedy earlier this month, the issue was raised by commuters again.
As quoted in Hindustan Times, Vishwanath Biwalkar, a citizen activist from Dombivli further added that a concern was raised after the Elphinstone bridge collapse incident, in October 2017, and a team of activists contacted senior CR authorities and railway ministry through social media. After continuous follow-ups, officials at the have CR finally decided to act upon the same.
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Besides this, another FOB between Dombivli and Thakurli is in a ramshackle condition.
Biwalkar further added that the condition of the FOB was also noted by the railway authorities. As far as FOB between Thakurli and Dombivli is concerned, an official from CR said that the part of the bridge which comes over railway track will be repaired by the CR. However, the repair work of the stairs to this FOB is supposed to be taken up by the civic body. At present, the foot overbridge has been closed by CR.
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A bridge on Mumbai Central which is at Churchgate end has also been closed for similar reasons and will be reopened on April 15, 2019.
Notably, 115 FOBs and 29 bridges have been checked by auditors and until now 18 have been confirmed to be safe.
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