Two weeks after GK Gokhale bridge collapse: IIT-B to begin inspection of 445 bridges from Tuesday

According to Pradipta Banerji, who is leading the three-member IIT team, bridges will be checked at three levels. (Express photo)

Almost two weeks after a part of GK Gokhale bridge between Andheri and Vile Parle stations on the Western Railway (WR) collapsed claiming one life, the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay will begin inspecting 445 bridges on the railway premises from Tuesday. Checking safety of “old and precarious” railway bridges will be priority.

Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had asked the IIT-B, along with railways and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to inspect road overbridges in Mumbai and submit a report within six months. According to Pradipta Banerji, who is leading the three-member IIT team, bridges will be checked at three levels.

“We have called for the drawing design of all the bridges, most of which I have received from the railways. As a majority of these bridges are old, a major share of information about the bridge could be retrieved from the design itself. Following this, we would require to visually inspect all the bridges to judge which require structural inspection,” Banerji said.

Banerji, who earlier inspected more than 60 railway bridges for the Indian Railways, has been a consultant particularly in the fields of earthquake engineering, vibration control, bridge design and structural health monitoring. Banerji said he is yet to shortlist other professors required for the task.

After the incident, the railways has been inspecting bridges in the suburban section since last week. From Tuesday, a six-seven member team including officials from railways, BMC and IIT will inspect the bridges.

“Inspecting foot overbridges may be easier than the road overbridges as we need not suspend railway traffic for the same. In ROBs, one needs to go underneath the bridge and check on corrosion. We will inspect bridges that are in poor shape during the block period or Sundays so that they can be inspected in detail,” Banerji added.

Senior railway officials claimed that the Andheri bridge was corroded and was overloaded with the weight of utility wires and surface construction, which led to its collapse. Banerji said it is challenging to track corrosion inside the bridge, though the required technology to do so is in place.

“It is not easy to track corrosion inside the bridge. We plan to put external sensors on the bridges that are found to be unsafe. The sensors will track cracks, strains or measure acceleration levels on the bridges. If the values are exceeded, we could recommend required action,” he added.

Completing the work in a period of six months would remain a challenge. “Completing work in the required time frame or executing it as quickly as possible will not be our aim. We would like to detect all the unsafe bridges, so that due action can be taken,” he add.

The team is expected to check Parel-Elphinstone Road bridge on Tuesday. While the Central Railway has 110 foot overbridges, 89 road overbridges and 19 overhead pipeline bridges, the Western Railway has 101 foot overbridges, 29 road overbridges and 4 water pipeline bridges.