Mumbai: Railways adds two more bridges to the 'danger' list

The WR inspected the Malad foot over bridge, located towards the Churchgate side, and said it was unsafe. Pic/Satej Shinde

The city authorities seem to have been jolted awake about the danger of bridges passing over railway lines. With two more bridges put up on the danger list on Sunday morning, the tally of such overpasses has now gone up to six, just two days after the audit teams started inspecting them.

On Sunday, the road over bridge at Ghatkopar and a foot over bridge at Malad, both of which pass over railway lines, were declared dangerous, and shut for use. The railways also dismantled a foot over bridge passing over the harbour line tracks at Tilak Nagar in four hours. mid-day had reported about the Bandra-Mahim and Vasai bridges being similarly shut on July 7 in 'WR closes two bridges for structural examination.'

Ghatkopar gamble
At Ghatkopar, after the first inspection, it was found that the bridge - a crucial east-west link for Ghatkopar - was in an unsafe condition as it was overburdened with utility cables, along with 400 mm thick paver blocks, with water continuously dripping from the footpath to the RCC piers below.

Central Railway (CR) officials suggested shifting the utility cables, removing paver blocks and paying attention to water leakages. The report, a copy of which is with mid-day, also suggested the removal of slums that are discharging drainage water. After a second inspection on Sunday afternoon, only the north end of the footpath was closed for remedial measures. The Western Railway inspected the Malad foot over bridge, located towards the Churchgate side, and said it was unsafe.

Bridge demolished
On the harbour line, an abandoned 18 metric tonne bridge built in 1989 near the Tilak Nagar station was found unsafe. It was demolished in a four-hour operation on Sunday. The 29-metre long bridge was passing above the harbour line tracks between Tilak Nagar and Chembur stations.

Divisional railway officials refused to speak on record, saying that the bridges are now being declared dangerous as they do not want to take any further risk. Speaking on the Tilak Nagar bridge dismantling, Sunil Udasi, CR's chief public relations officer said, "The correspondence of that bridge was done much before the Andheri crash."

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