Sobo is stuck! Mumbaikars fume as work on key bridges crawls

Frere Road bridge between Charni Road and Grant Road has been undergoing a major upgrade. The completion deadline is now October 31

Motorists and commuters in south Mumbai are a hassled lot, with a number of road bridges over rail lines in various stages of repair or revamp. Since the pandemic-induced restrictions continue to keep crowds away from local trains, a large number of Mumbaikars have no option but to get on the roads and put up with traffic as detours eat into their commuting time. Railway authorities, however, claim that most of the overpasses in question will be ready between December and March 2022.

The work on the Delisle Road bridge between Lower Parel and Prabhadevi and the Hancock bridge near Mazgaon over the tracks has become huge obstacles for citizens. Akshay Sah, who has a firm at Lower Parel, said it has become problematic to commute in south Mumbai due to the delinking of bridges over rail lines. "While Delisle Road connectivity has been broken and one has to take a detour, similar is the case of Hancock Bridge. One needs to give a dedicated deadline for such major works and not tolerate any inefficiency," he said.

The approaches of Hancock bridge are yet to be commissioned since houses are coming in the way

Rajiv N Jain, an office-goer, said it was sad that the work on the key bridges is crawling for a long time. Despite all the resources, work appears to go on till eternity, he said. Officials said the Delisle Road bridge is expected to be ready in March 2022. On the timeline, an official said, "The deep foundations of the bridge were completed on either side of the line in January 2021 and the web girder is almost assembled. It has been designed specially as per the odd angles of the old bridge alignment because the bridge needs to be placed at a 65-degree curve. Once it is launched over the rail lines, the approaches will be built by the BMC," he said.

The official said that there are a total of three approaches, two on the west where the work of dismantling and rebuilding can start immediately and the east side which will be available for work after post-monsoon. BMC is paying the Western Railway Rs 125 crore for overall reconstruction of this bridge.

Assurances don't seem to placate the people. Nilesh Darwatkar, a commuter, said, "Can someone take responsibility for the Lower Parel bridge and complete this work as it is pending since the last four years. People are yelling since ages but still no one comes ahead and completes this work. People from Lower Parel are really frustrated."

"When will the Lower Parel bridge be made? It's more than three years since work started on it. Mumbaikars are facing lots of problems. Kindly build it as soon as possible," another commuter Jinesh Jain said. On the Central line, while work on the Hancock Bridge has been completed, the approaches of the road are yet to be commissioned as there are houses and project-affected people coming in the way. BMC officials did not elaborate on the problem but said they were working on the issue.

The Delisle Road bridge between Lower Parel and Prabhadevi. The deadline is March 2022

"East-west connectivity at Mazgaon is dead. Hancock Bridge is an example of misgovernance of this city. We cut a cake on the 7th demolition anniversary of Hancock bridge to mock the authorities and for creating a sort of record which can be entered in the Guinness Book. The financial capital of the country has miserably failed to construct a 57-metre bridge after seven years of demolition and raising its construction cost from Rs 14.5 crore to Rs 100 crore," local activist Kamalakar Shenoy said.

More lined up

Starting from the Churchgate end on Western Railway, the Marine Line bridge is the first structure that runs across the tracks. The one after this, between Charni Road and Grant Road, is the French bridge, which is currently open to the public but will undergo routine maintenance after the monsoon.

Between Charni Road and Grant Road is the Kennedy bridge, which is being planned to be upgraded a bit, but has a number of utility cables on it. Its south side parapet wall will be constructed after shifting of MTNL cables and authorities have planned to carry out routine maintenance post-rain. Work on French and Kennedy bridges is expected to be completed by December.

French Bridge will see routine maintenance after rains. File/Shadab Khan

The next in the line between Charni Road and Grant Road is the Frere Road bridge, where a major upgrade is being carried out. A senior railway official associated with the project said that the regirdering of the railway portion was completed in November 2020 and the approaches are now being taken up. "This work, which involves raising of approaches, is now being done by the Mumbai division of Western Railway on the request of BMC. But the site itself was made available on April 21, 2021, after removing shops and cables of BEST and MTNL. So far, the retaining wall work, side footpath work on the west side has been completed. The raising of roads is also completed. The work of strengthening the arch is in progress. Other important works will be taken up after the monsoon," he said. The deadline for all
of this is October 31.

Diana bridge is an important link for locals between Grant Road and Mumbai Central. Though no major work has been planned, routine maintenance activities will be carried out after the monsoon. Officials said the target is November 30.

57 Metres
Length of Hancock bridge

Rs 100 cr
Cost of Hancock bridge