Mumbai: Corroded, dangerous footbridge at Dadar finally removed

The new bridge that has come up next to it

One of the oldest Dadar foot overbridges towards the Churchgate end that was declared dangerous, has finally been removed. Given the busy status of the station, it was proving difficult to take down the corroded bridge. Earlier this week, the bridge was separated from the foundations and removed. A new bridge has already been built next to it.

The old bridge being removed

"Dadar is always crowded and hence it was difficult to remove the bridge. This is the best use of the lockdown. Two years ago, a joint audit conducted by IIT-Bombay and Western Railway on 115 foot over bridges saw 16 of them declared to be closed based on their structural analysis. Of these 16, 13 have now been dismantled, eight this year itself," WR Chief Public Relations officer Sumit Thakur said.

Thakur said shutting the foot overbridges and re-building them in stipulated time posed a twin challenge and the dismantling work had to be done with utmost care and meticulous planning, by ensuring safety of trains operating under them. First replacements were built, and then dangerous structures removed.

He said the new bridges had an increased width of 10mts/12mts to cater to more commuters. "A few of the older bridges had archaic trusses with pin-jointed structures. Inspection and maintenance of such pin-jointed structures is difficult. In addition to removal and rebuilding of foot over bridges, WR has also completed repairs of 36 of them," he said.

There are a total of 138 foot overbridges on the Mumbai suburban section of WR. During this lockdown period, 14 new foot overbridges and one new skywalk as well as extension of Bandra Terminus foot bridge have been commissioned over this Mumbai suburban section. Besides this, important construction works of Delisle Road over bridge near the Lower Parel station and Frere Road over bridge near Grant Road station are on in full swing.