Mumbai gets its first readymade foot overbridge

Foot overbridge manufactured and assembled by CR, MMRDA

In a first for city, the Central Railway and MMRDA have manufactured and assembled a foot overbridge, which is now ready to be placed above railway lines between Sion and Kurla stations. Generally, the FOBs are constructed by fitting multiple blocks on the site.

"Assembling the entire structure and placing it above the rail lines would cause least disturbance to the traffic. The foundation structure will be separately erected and the ready FOB will be placed on it. The usual practice is to put up just the girders after taking several blocks and then erecting the bridge structure above the tracks," a senior official said.

Giving details of the bridge, a senior official said the railways and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), as part of the elevated BKC Connector, have been building a bridge over the railway lines. The ready-to-place FOB will be placed parallel to the BKC Connector between Sion and Kurla stations.

The BKC Connector starts from G-Block of Bandra Kurla Complex, crosses Mithi River, LBS Marg, Central Railway tracks and VN Mankikar Road leading to Chunabhatti railway station. Crossing the station, the bridge passes through Somaiya Trust Ground in Chunabhatti to join the Eastern Express Highway. The authorities are expected to open both the FOB and the BKC Connector towards October end.

CR to get more FOBs
Officials said the railways are also building a new footbridge at Sion station. The Central Railway's Mumbai division has got approval to construct more FOBs along its stations at a cost of R10 crore. The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation is also working on a project called Mid-Section Trespass Control under which it will construct 26 footbridges.

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