A team of experts from IIT-Bombay has asked the Central Railway (CR) to remove load from the cantilever portion of the Currey Road station road overbridge (ROB).

Around nine months ago after the pedestrian pathway of Gokhale bridge at Andheri railway station collapsed, IIT-B was asked to audit the bridges in the city.

On Tuesday, the team submitted its inspection and recommendation report on CR’s four RoB at Byculla, Arthur Road, Currey Road and Ghatkopar.

The team has also suggested barring heavy vehicles from using the RoB, imposing a speed restriction and closing a footpath of a RoB on CR.

The zonal railway will temporarily shut the cantilever portion of the Currey Road RoB to remove utilities, structures and slabs that have added burden to the bridge. It will then repair and strengthen the bridge.

“The closure will be temporary and we will lay sheets on the cantilever portion to strengthen it. It will be done soon,” said a senior Central Railway official, who did not wish to be named.

Heavy vehicles weighing more than 16 tonnes will not be allowed to ply on Ghatkopar, Byculla and Arthur Road RoB.

“Going by the suggestion of the IIT-B team, CR will not allow heavy trailers and trucks on the three bridges. Height barriers will be put up to prevent the vehicles from entering the RoB,” added the official.

Vehicles cannot exceed the 30 kmph speed at the RoB at Byculla, Arthur Road and Currey Road.

The team has asked CR to shut the pedestrian footpath adjacent to the Byculla RoB near the market. Light vehicles, including cars and two-wheelers, will only be allowed on the road next to the footpath of the Byculla bridge.

“After a detailed study of the Byculla bridge footpath, we will decide whether to demolish or repair it,” added the official.

After the collapse of the pedestrian pathway at that killed two people in 2018, Railways minister Piyush Goyal had said 445 bridge structures across Central and Western Railways would be inspected.

CR had sought for an immediate report of the four RoBs after noticing their condition during inspections.

First Published: Apr 17, 2019 00:07 IST