Western Railway soon to dismantle Gokhale bridge

A month after the tragic incident of Gokhale Bridge, which collapsed on the railway tracks at Andheri, the Western Railway (WR) now will issue tenders on Friday to dismantle the pathway. The WR officials believe that it will take at least one year to dismantle the pathway along with construction of a new one. 

Also Read: BMC And Railways Both Responsible For The Andheri Bridge Collapse: Inquiry Report

On July 3, 2018, a part of Gokhale bridge collapsed on the railway tracks between Andheri and Vile Parle, injuring five people, two of whom died later. The WR officials are now planning to not have a cantilever pathway for pedestrians on the bridge than constructing the pathway on top of the bridge as they believe that the bridge’s weight will be enough to sustain a pathway.

A senior WR official said that they are in the final stages of approval of the pathway construction design. As per the design, they will be constructing the pathway on the present bridge and will not have a cantilever pedestrian pathway arrangement.

Also Read: To Avoid Future Mishaps, Railways And BMC To Hold Monthly Meetings

Post-bridge collapse, Union minister of railways, Piyush Goyal, had ordered Indian Railways and IIT-B to carry out an audit of 445 bridge structures crossing or adjacent to railway tracks.

Meanwhile, the railway administration has asked for ₹27 Cr from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to carry out construction and repairs of the bridges which have been flagged during inspections.

One of the CR officials said that after receiving funds from the BMC, the Railways will undertake the dismantling work of a portion of Gokhale Bridge as well as the Lower Parel rail overbridge (RoB).

A team comprising of IIT experts, BMC officials and CR and WR officials, inspection was carried out of 25 RoBs. During the inspection, the IIT Bombay team had asked the Railways to shut down Delisle bridge for any vehicular movement. Along with this, IIT experts have also asked to dismantle Patri Pool bridge of Kalyan and stop vehicular movement.