Marine Lines FoB at WR to be razed; will be reconstructed

Tenders for work on the foot overbridge at Marine Lines will open around mid-October. Pic/Bipin Kokate

One more bridge has made it to the list of those needing a complete overhaul - a foot overbridge (FOB) at Marine Lines, for which Western Railway (WR) has called for work orders to demolish it completely as well as to reconstruct it. The newer version is touted to be double the width. The bridge, which connects the access road from Bombay Hospital in the east to Hindi Vidya Bhavan at Marine Drive, is mainly used by local residents and schoolchildren.

More room
The bridge is a combination of concrete and metal - the cement portion passes over the road, while a narrow 2.5-m-wide iron structure with heavy metal plates at the base is over the railway section. A senior divisional official from WR said the reconstructed bridge will be four metres wide. "Tenders for the project will open mid-October; it will take about 12 months to complete the work," he added.

In addition to this, WR has speeded up work on dismantling the Delisle Road bridge near Lower Parel station. It will be taking a few blocks along railway lines while dismantling larger frames. At present, work is on to cut out sheets at the base of the road. Central and Western Railway have been identifying weak and corrosive bridges along the lines with the help of IIT teams, following the collapse of the Andheri bridge.

Improving safety
The joint safety audit is for all 445 ROBs and FOBs in Mumbai in order to improve commuter safety. Officials said inspection of all bridges is being done in two tiers - an internal team of only railway officers at night on tower wagon, and another team of IIT, MCGM and railways later. There are 145 structures crossing railway tracks and belonging to different departments. During his visit to Mumbai last week, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said that for the first time in Indian Railways, he had initiated the concept of third-party inspection of all bridges across India.

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