Mumbai: Foot overbridge closed at Kandivali station, sparks stampede fear

Not fit for use, one of the four foot overbridges at Kandivali station has been closed. The shutdown of the overbridge, located on the station’s southern side, has led to congestion of entry and exit points, thereby triggering fears of stampede among locals.

Commuters maintained there is an excessive rush on the narrow stairway and escalators on the alternate northern bridge during peak hours, which can possibly lead to a stampede-like situation.

Kandivali station on the Western Railway (WR) network has four foot overbridges. The Western Railway plans to build a new one within four months. The middle foot overbridge only connects the platforms at the either ends and cannot be used by commuters for entering or exiting the station.

According to a notice issued for commuters, the bridge will remain closed till July 31. They have been advised to use “north foot overbridge, middle foot overbridge and south side foot overbridge made by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)”.

However, regular commuters complained that the station sees maximum crowd from the eastern side. “On a regular day, the crowd would have been evenly distributed on other bridges. With the closure of the existing bridge, there is a heavy footfall on the north-end bridge to enter or exit the stations. Also, the staircase and escalators are very narrow,” Rohit Raina, a resident of Kandivali said.

Since the last three days, commuters have complained against the serpentine queues to get on to the escalators during peak hours. “Many residential hubs are located in the east side of the station, therefore, maximum commuters tend to use the bridge at the north side of the station. A certain part of the north-end bridge does not have a canopy, which can further increase problems for commuters in case it rains. If timely action is not taken, a stampede similar to Elphinstone Road station on the bridge is likely,” Raina added.

Commuters’ groups in Kandivali have sent out alerts on social media about the problems faced during rush hour.
Vasant Patil, a resident of Kandivali, has expressed concerns over the delay in reinstating staircase for skywalk that connects the station to the east. The staircase is expected to share the commuter load off the eastern side of the station.

“The agonising and unsafe conditions faced by commuters could have been avoided had there been a time-bound, responsible programme of reinstating staircase of skywalk near MCGM school adjacent to BEST depot. The MCGM team can still expedite the completion of this long pending staircase within 15 to 30 days,” Patil’s message read.
However, BMC officials said that they can only finish the staircase by June end. “The Railways should have informed the BMC before closing down the existing bridge at the station. While we agree this has increased the woes of commuters, we are trying our best to build at least one staircase at the earliest,” a BMC official said.

On Saturday, one of the Western Railway’s tweets on the closure of the southern side bridge read, “Commuters to kindly pay attention, deck slab heavily deteriorated, reinforcement steed corroded, structural steel pitted and perforated of south side FoB at Kandivali station. This FoB was repaired many times and further it cannot be repaired. Replacement of south side FoB is feasible.”

“Replacement of this bridge is urgent as it was not in a good state. After grants from the BMC were released, we decided to replace the bridge at the earliest. Commuters are requested to use other bridges at the station till that time,” said Mukul Jain, Divisional Railway Manager of Western Railway.