How veggie rot almost collapsed Mumbai's Mulund bridge

The bridge has been repaired and will be thrown open today. Pic/Rajendra B. Aklekar (left) rotting vegetables and fruits left behind by illegal hawkers on the Mulund pedestrian bridge on February 25, 2020

Rotting vegetables and fruits left behind by illegal hawkers almost brought down the south-side public foot overbridge at Mulund railway station, information obtained by mid-day has revealed. The situation was worsened by illegal structural alterations made by the public toilet contractor who had built toilet units under the bridge. The anomalies were noticed during an inspection last month. The bridge has been repaired and will be reopened today.

Officials told mid-day this is a temporary measure and that a new bridge would be built a few metres away and this one dismantled. The bridge is 48 years old and is scheduled to be replaced. The new bridge will be constructed seven metres away on the CSMT-end.

Two bridges shut

On January 28, mid-day had highlighted the abrupt closure of both the station's public pedestrian bridges, inconveniencing residents and commuters. The one at Apna Bazar was repaired and safely opened to the public.

The corroded iron bars of the bridge (right) The newly repaired bridge. Pics/Rajendra B. Aklekar

Railway officials said they had been telling the BMC about the encroachment. Public bridges on either end of railway stations are jointly managed by the railways and the BMC. Mulund T-Ward BMC officials said they organise various drives at regular intervals during which hawkers are evicted and fined.

Railway officials said that during a thorough inspection of the bridge last month, it was found to be ‘distressed', after which they decided to repair it urgently and put it to use till a new bridge is built.

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Rot runs deep

"It was found out that on the west side, the portion of the bridge covered under the public toilet was dangerously altered and the main structure was damaged to accommodate the toilet units under the main columns and the staircase," said a senior railway official. "Also, the entire length of this bridge deck on its sides is taken over by various kinds of vendors selling vegetables, fruits and other goods. The daily leftovers became a potential source for its deterioration over a period. All the gusset plates of the bottom portion of the deck (a plate that connects beams and girders to columns) were badly corroded, which required providing additional suspenders and support channels to take the load of the deck. This consumed time."

Thieves delay repairs

The controversial public toilet facade as seen from other side of bridge

It was also observed that reinforced cement concrete (RCC) deck slab was worn out and the bottom members of the deck truss highly corroded. "The contractor refused to close the toilet for over a month, due to which repairs to the west-side portion of FOB were delayed," the officer said. "More time was lost due to the theft of oxygen cylinders and some local nuisance. But the work is now almost over. We should be able to open one portion of this bridge (from west-side to the overhead booking office) today and the rest by February 28."

A city-wide problem

Mumbai has several hundred pedestrian bridges over its famed railway lines, many of which are decades-old and in need of repairs. Recent years have seen two bridges collapse-one at Andheri and another at CSMT-killing at least eight people.

Manoj Kotak, local MP

The 2017 Elphinstone stampede on a narrow staircase in the railway station, which killed 22 people, led to a structural audit of railway bridges and repairs were carried out on a war footing. But many such bridges are now at the end of their lifetimes.

The science behind it

Steel corrodes due to an electrochemical process that happens when moisture and oxygen are present simultaneously. "The iron in the steel is oxidised to become rust, which occupies many times the volume of the original material," said Jagdeep Desai, an architect with four decades of experience and is a visiting faculty at several Mumbai colleges.

"The rate at which the corrosion happens depends on a number of factors, but mainly the ‘micro-climate' immediately surrounding the structure, which in this case, were the cuttings. The moisture in the cuttings, continuously being in contact, would have adversely contributed to the rusting, corrosion, and subsequent deterioration of the steel and its strength."

4.71L
Average daily footfall on the bridge, which is used by locals and commuters alike