Lower Parel bridge reconstructed; to take another 10 months to be operational

The Western Railway administration has recently stated that the bridge at the Lower Parel station is being worked on by the Railways and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). According to sources, foundation work on the east side of the bridge has been completed, while the work on the west side will be done with regards to the weather forecast.

After the collapse of the Gokhale bridge at the Andheri station of the Western Railway, it was decided to conduct a structural audit of all the bridges in Mumbai. Accordingly, a structural audit of the old bridges had been carried out and the bridge at the Lower Parel station had been demolished. The foundation of the bridge on the west side of the station was laid 2 months ago. Prior to that, the work of micro piling for the construction of the bridge has been going on since November 14, 2019.

Western Railways used the coronavirus induced lockdown period to build the new bridge in Lower Parel. As the construction of the bridge was ongoing, social distancing protocols were observed. While the BMC and the Railways are funding the project, the bridge is expected to take another ten months to complete. According to the Western Railway administration, the BMC has provided for ₹125 crores for the construction of the bridge. Moreover, in order to conduct the work on the bridge efficiently, a team of 93 engineers, supervisors and workers completed 685 cubic meters of cement in 14 hours. 92 MT stainless steel was used for laying the foundation.

During the lockdown period, when the locals and expressways were closed, the Railways completed the important work with regards to infrastructure. During this period, work was done to increase the drainage capacity of 33 places in 5 sections of the Central Railways, to widen the waterways and to rebuild the bridges. New slabs were laid in place of dilapidated steel girders on both sides of the Valadhuni river bridge between Kalyan and Shahad stations. Reconstruction of the bridge between Panvel-Karjat was completed in 4 days by dropping the RCC box.