Mumbai Rains: Gokhale bridged collapses sending Andheri station into a tizzy

The usual din that surrounds the Andheri station on mornings was interrupted by a loud thud on Tuesday, when the walkway portion of the Gokhale over bridge, which connects Andheri East and West, collapsed. The incident injured five people and disrupted train services to and from Andheri till the afternoon.

While the portion of the walkway collapsed around 7.30 am, further casualties were avoided by the presence of mind displayed by a motorman whose train was about to pass under the bridge.

Soon after, the fire brigade, local police, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Railway Protection Force (RPF), Government Railway Police (GRP) and officials from the Western Railway (WR) reached the spot to start the rescue operations. The bridge was instantly shut down as a precautionary measure.

Chaos ensued after the collapse, with the heavy rainfall only adding to rescuers woes. When mid-day reached the spot, it observed police officials having a tough time managing the crowd who wanted to go near the site of the collapse to click pictures. The Divisional Railway Manager of WR also reached the spot along with the other officials and instructed officials to complete the work of clearing the debris on war footing.

The incident majorly damaged platform 8 at Andheri, which mostly receives intercity trains. The collapsed portion had completely covered the tracks, making it seem as if they had been barricaded.