Four years after being demolished, work begins on Hancock Bridge

The BMC on Saturday launched the girders by rolling them over the rail lines, in phase. Pic/Suresh Karkera

Four years after its demolition, work on the much-delayed Hancock Bridge finally began on Saturday. Its first section of girders was pushed over railway tracks. It is named after Colonel HF Hancock, who served as a member and also the president of the Bombay Municipal Corporation. The bridge forms a crucial link in the city of Mumbai.

The bridge, over the railway track near Sandhurst Road, was originally built in 1879 and rebuilt in 1923. It was declared unsafe by Central Railway in 2015 and demolished in January 2016. The new bridge is 65 metres long, 15 metres wide and weighs 660 metric tonnes. The bridge-s frame was dismantled and transported as parts from Chandigarh, as it could not be transported as a complete frame. A team of engineers will assemble it again with over 20,000 bolts. The cost of the bridge is R52 crore.

The BMC launched the girders by rolling them over the rail lines, in phases, from the east side of Mazagaon. On Saturday, the girders were partially launched over the lines after four hours of work. They have reached half-way. A senior official said that they will be pushed further and reach the west side, in the next 15 days. This development was confirmed by the CR-s chief PRO, Shivaji Sutar.

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