Mumbai Rains: Part of Andheri bridge collapses, five hurt

Bridge collapse at Andheri

A section of a foot overbridge here caved in over the Western Railway (WR) tracks during Tuesday morning's peak hours following incessant rain, leaving five persons injured, and creating a scare among the commuters, an official said. The crash has affected Mumbai's lifeline -- the suburban train services, which ferries around eight million commuters daily.

Bridge collapse at Andheri

The injured, who include one woman, have been admitted to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's R.N. Cooper Hospital in Vile Parle, a BMC official said. One of them is critical. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has ordered an inquiry into the incident.

Heavy overnight rains and waterlogging in many areas is suspected to be the cause of the crash of the structure, known as the Gokhale Bridge, on S.V. Road, which connects Andheri East and Andheri West. There were no immediate confirmation whether the injured were commuters or pedestrians. Rescue operations continued to save those believed to be trapped under the debris.

Work was also on to remove the debris from the WR tracks which blocked services in both directions, hitting hard the Mumbai commuters bound for their offices.

According to WR spokesperson C.N.K. David, the portion of the bridge crashed at around 7.30 a.m. on the the southern-end of the Andheri platform numbers 7-8. The falling bridge damaged a portion of the platform roof, blocked the railway lines and damaged the high-tension electric wires and overhead power equipments, he added. "The restoration work is in full swing and we hope to resume normal train services in the next few hours," David said.

The WR said trains were being operated between Goregaon-Virar on the northern side and Bandra-Churchgate in the southern direction, besides Harbour Line from Bandra-CST, and several long-distance trains were rescheduled. The Commissioner of Railway Safety will investigate the incident which has triggered a blame-game between the WR and the BMC.

While the WR said the bridge belongs to the BMC, the latter said the crash took place on the railway portion which was the WR's responsibility for repairs and maintenance. With several lakhs of commuters stranded all over the network, the civic transport body BEST deployed 40 additional bus services between Goregaon-Bandra to clear the rush. The cascading effect was also seen on the Western Express Highway, the main S.V. Road, Link Road and other arterial roads with traffic jams all over.

As a precautionary measure, Mumbai police have stopped all traffic above and below the bridge till the green signal from the railway authorities.

Due to the pathway of Road over the bridge that has collapsed at the South end of Andheri stations towards Vile Parle, no trains are running between Goregaon-Bandra sections of Western Railway. Some mail express trains have been cancelled and rescheduled; therefore special arrangements for refund are made at various railway stations. However, as a special case, Western Railway commuters are permitted to travel on alternative routes of the Central Railway.

Help Line numbers are as follows:

Andheri -
022676 30054

Churchgate -
02267622540
02222082809

Borivali-
02267634053
02228051580

Mumbai Central-
02267644257

Surat -
02602401791

BEST - 27 additional buses to ply on city roads for stranded citizens.

The Central Railways are opening extra counters at Dadar and Ghatkopar stations. All sectional inspectors will man their headquarter stations and announcement permitting to harbour passengers onto the trains running on the main lines have been made. On the other hand the Central Police of the Railways are sending men to Ghatkopar and Dadar station to help the people and control the crowds. RPF personnel have also being sent to other major crowded railway stations across the city.

Harbour line passengers who have been affected on the Western Railway between Goregaon to Andheri and Bandra are now allowed to travel on Central Railway's main line suburban section on the same ticket.

The Central Railway is supporting the Western Railway by deputing two Tower Wagons with men, tools and material and four ladder gangs along with road vehicle and more material for early restoration of the Over Head Equipment.

Central Railway's Position as 10.20 hrs

Services are running on all corridors as of now on the Central Railway suburban line. However, they are consciously reducing the number of rakes to avoid marooning

Dabbawalas, who supply Tiffin boxes to the working professionals, have also expressed their inability to work today, as the all the four lines of the Western Railway suburban services have come to halt.

(With inputs from Rajendra B Aklekar)

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