Railway engineers carry out inspection, certify the bridge above to be safe with no risk element
Railway engineers have certified the bridge, and the subway underneath, to be safe. Pics/Ashish Raje
High drama prevailed on the Western Railway after officials received a call from the Disaster Management Cell of the BMC claiming that the vehicular subway under the railway line at Khar was structurally unstable and dangerous with reports of soil erosion.
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"Because the call came from the DM Cell, we did not take any risk and shut down all lines around 5 pm. We then sent railway engineers at the site; after a thorough inspection, the bridge was found to be completely safe with no risk element. Once the certification was received, services were restarted around 5.45 pm," a WR spokesperson said.
Khar subway has been on the citizens' radar, with many complaining of soil erosion and ballast falling on vehicles passing underneath. However, it's the design of the subway, which is such that it does not have a complete roof and falls under the girders of the rail track, leading to seepage of water and other such issues. There are no structural issues with it.
WR officials said an alert citizen had first called up the fire brigade, which had called up the DM Cell.
CR audit starts
After WR began the audit of bridges, Central Railway started the same yesterday and inspected the section between Dadar and Currey Road. A CR spokesperson said, "The road overbridge at Parel was inspected. It was built around 1938 and has a 9.14-m wide carriageway with a footpath measuring 1.52 metre on either side.
Officials led by Principal Chief Engineer S K Agarwal and Divisional Railway Manager S K Jain along with a full team of bridge department and divisional officers conducted an audit. The bridge was found to be safe, with some planned attention, like painting, required.
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