Finishing touches being given to the foot overbridge built by the Army at Ambivali station on Central Railway. (Express Photo by Deepak Joshi)
FIVE MONTHS after 23 people died in the stampede at the Elphinstone Road station on the Western Railway, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal will inaugurate the alternative foot overbridge (FOB) to the station on Tuesday. The new FOB spans over both Western and Central Railway tracks, connecting Parel station on the East side and Phool Wali Gali outside the Elphinstone Road station on the West side. The Army was roped in to construct the bridges after the tragedy struck on September 29, 2017, during the morning rush hour.
The Army also constructed bridges at the Currey Road and Ambivali railway stations on the Central Railway. On Monday, the Bombay Engineering Group and Centre, Pune, also known as Bombay Sappers, handed over the bridges to the Railways. Army officials said the bridges were inspected by their design and safety team on Sunday and were declared fit to be used.
As many as 250 Sappers were involved in the task that was completed within four months. When Goyal had visited the accident site on October 31, 2017, he had announced that the Army would complete the construction of three bridges by January 31, 2018, to redress the “crisis situation” in Mumbai. Since the Army is skilled in making bridges and doesn’t take long time to do it, they were asked to construct the bridges, he had said.
Railways will recoup material used from Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata, worth Rs 5 crore, for making the bridges. The Railways will also pay Rs 13 crores to the contractors for the remaining work on the bridges. All the bridges are 3.75 metres wide. The bridge at Elphinstone Road station is 70-metre-long. The bridges at Currey Road station is 30 metres in length and the one in Ambivali is 20-metre-long.
While the Army laid the girder of the bridge at Ambivali station on January 18, they launched the girders for Elphinstone bridge on January 25 and 26 and those for Currey Road station bridge were laid on February 4 and 5. Talking about the delay of about a month, a senior Army official said, “We took time in designing the bridges as we had to understand technical details of the land and functioning of the railways. We were handed over the land for constructing an additional bridge at Currey Road station only on November 20, which further delayed its completion. In the case of Ambivali bridge, we finished the construction by January 31.”
Clad in Army fatigues, 250 Armymen put up at the Army headquarters in Colaba and others in railway quarters in Parel and Kalyan. They travelled in local trains between stations to head to the bridge construction sites. Over the last four months. They ate guavas sold at railway platforms and explored popular tourists destinations like the Gateway of India in their leisure time. They, however, had to make a departure from their regular methods to adapt to the ways of the Railways.
“It was difficult to understand the functioning of the city trains. We had to rely on the person who would blow the whistle to alert us about the arrival of a train. Though we were working in the day light, carrying out work when train traffic is on is challenging. Towards the end, we became more confident and aware of the directions from where the train. The regulars at the station also do not seem to be in awe of us anymore,” a senior railway official said.
As opposed to their usual way of constructing bridges within a night, the Army has used cranes and made a canopy for railway bridges. While most of the officials have returned to their Pune base, the others plan a return on Tuesday after the inauguration. “It will be difficult for us to bid goodbye as we have spent close to four months in Mumbai. We are happy that we have successfully completed the task,” Brigadier Dhiraj Mohan, Bombay Sappers said.
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