CR decides to dismantle two FOBs at Kurla shut for repairs

MUMBAI: The Central Railway (CR) has decided to dismantle two foot over-bridges at Kurla station and build new ones. While one is at the south end connecting all platforms, the other is an east-west public FOB with no access to platforms. The FOBs were shut for commuters on Tuesday, leading to chaos at other bridges.

A senior CR official said, “An audit by IIT-Bombay had recommended repairs. However, while conducting inspection for repair work, we felt it would be better to dismantle them and build new ones.”

The demolition will be carried out before the monsoon. He explained, “During the monsoon, there is the issue of smooth dispersal. It is better to shut the bridge now and dismantle it before the monsoon.”

CR has also shut the staircase of the CSMT bridge, whose landing is on platform 1 for building a new one. This staircase will remain shut till April 26.

Neither the FOB at Kurla nor the CSMT staircase was named in CR’s list of dangerous bridges to be demolished, but sources say officials don’t want to take any chances now.

One FOB has an entry from outside platform 1 and is located at the Sion-end of the station. Commuters have been advised to use alternative FOBs. The other FOB shut is a public bridge with no landing on platforms. Citizens have an alternative in the form of the subway to get from one end of Kurla east to west.

Prior to this, CR had only decided to dismantle five FOBs by June 30, which they claimed were not unsafe but were old and replacements had been provided. The FOBs are at Bhandup, Kurla, Vikhroli, Diva and Kalyan stations.

A source said, “The decision to go in for dismantling, instead of repairs, has been taken because of a scare among officials after BMC engineers were arrested for the CSMT FOB collapse. Nobody wants to take chances to ruin their careers.”

WR too has become proactive after the CSMT collapse. WR has shut down the BMC FOB at the northern end of Malad station for three months, till June 28 for repairs, of the ramp of platform 1 till June 16, and staircase of BMC’s FOB (south) at Khar station till May 18.

RTI activist Anil Galgali said, “IIT-B was asked to undertake an audit in July. It has not yet submitted any report to the railway authorities even though there is scare among citizens. The railways should put the IIT report online so that everyone can access it.”