Central Railway to demolish over 100-year-old Chamarline FOB at Byculla

Another skeleton made of metal will soon crumble and get buried in history. The Central Railway (CR) will be demolishing the century plus foot over bridge (FOB) – Chamarline FOB at Byculla – on the night of January 28-29 as it has become old and unstable for public use

Another skeleton made of metal will soon crumble and get buried in history. The Central Railway (CR) will be demolishing the century plus foot over bridge (FOB) – Chamarline FOB at Byculla – on the night of January 28-29 as it has become old and unstable for public use.

This comes more than a year after the CR authorities demolished the Hancock road over bridge near Sandhurst Road railway station which was again 135-year-old or so. This FOB is situated nearly 200 meters away from Byculla station on the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) end.

One has to walk all the way till Byculla market to see this FOB where its steps land – the bridge is under poor condition – and has been shut for public use. At the site, the staircase of this FOB lands too close to the shops which are along the road. The cement blocks that cover the metal skeletal of the bridge have already been removed to prevent public use.

The officials from CR said that the dismantling is needed due to its age and poor condition which was built by the local municipal authorities back then. "The dismantling work shall begin by 11.30pm and go on till 5.45am on late Saturday-Sunday night. During this period all four lines between Sandhurst Road and Currey Road shall remain shut for operations," said Narendra Patil, Chief PRO, Central Railway.

The officials said that these are called the 'N-type truss' bridge which were quite popular engineering wise in those period. There shall be probable diversion of suburban services as Down (towards Thane) slow line services leaving CSMT from 11.30pm till 5.46am will be diverted on Down fast line between CSMT and Parel stations.

While the Up (towards CSMT) slow line services leaving Parel from 11.26pm to 5.46am will be diverted on Up fast line between Parel and CSMT stations. During this period trains wouldn't be available at Masjid, Sandhurst Road, Chinchpokli and Currey Road. The railways will also be canceling six train services during this period while there will be trains that will start and terminate at Dadar.

Meanwhile the CR authorities also had plans to demolish the Carnac Bunder road over bridge near Sandhurst Road as even this 150-year-old bridge is in a precarious state. But then there have been public protests over the non-provision of an alternate bridge in place of Hancock bridge; thus causing inconvenience to people. And so until that time, the authorities have decided that they wouldn't demolish Carnac Bridge.

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