The Central Railway (CR) is planning to put in place a new system to inspect and repair foot overbridges (FOBs) in the Mumbai suburban section.
CR will be soon appointing external agencies to continuously monitor the health of overbridges and conduct necessary repairs.
A senior railway officer said, “The number of FOBs in CR’s Mumbai suburban section has risen rapidly in the past few years. While building so many foot overbridges at such a quick rate itself is a challenge, we feel that the old system of monitoring the health of these structures may no longer be feasible. The new system we propose to implement will be similar to an annual maintenance contract.”
Officials said that the number of FOBs on CR increased exponentially after the stampede at the overbridge near Elphinstone Road station on September 29, 2017, which led to the death of over 20 people. While only four FOBs were built in the 2014-15, 22 FOBs were constructed in 2018-19. Six more foot overbridges are at various stages of completion. Of the 200-odd FOBs in the Mumbai Division of CR, 56 were built in the last three years alone.
At present, each FOB is inspected once a year and if repairs are required contracts are awarded to carry out maintenance work. In the new system, CR will be awarding maintenance contracts to firms and they will be given the responsibility of continuously monitoring the health of the overbridges.
Periodic reports
Sunil Udasi, chief public relations officer, CR, said, “The preliminary job of drafting the ‘scope of work’ for the annual maintenance contract is in progress. We will be floating tenders in due course of time. This initiative is another step taken by CR to enhance the safety of commuters.”
Under the new system, firms that are awarded the contracts will be required to provide periodic reports of the health of the FOBs and file reports if they notice damages such as a crack or a corroded bracket on the overbridges. CR will then study these reports and request the firms to carry out the required repairs.
A senior railway official said, “The old system worked as there were fewer overbridges. Now, we need to put in place a system that continuously monitors them. Earlier, owing to fewer FOBs being built, the workload on the CR staff also did not increase drastically.”