A year after the collapse of the pedestrian pathway on Gokhale bridge at Andheri railway station, Central (CR) and Western Railway (WR) are yet to receive the complete audit reports on the condition of bridges in Mumbai.

While the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B), which carried out the audit, has submitted reports of road and foot overbridges in critical condition, the entire report on the remaining bridge structures is still awaited. Union minister of railways Piyush Goyal had asked both the zonal railways and IIT-B to submit detailed reports on the condition of bridges in the city within six months.

The inspection team has cited the vastness of Mumbai’s local rail network as the reason for the delay and said the remaining portions of the audit report would be submitted within two months.Immediately after the collapse of on July 3, 2018, Goyal had ordered an inspection of all the 445 bridge structures in Mumbai, including road over bridges (RoBs), foot over bridges (FoBs) and bridges adjacent to railway tracks. The audit was conducted by IIT-B along with officials from CR, WR, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and other civic body officials.

“We have received reports of crucial bridges from the IIT. Action has been taken on the critical bridges immediately. We are yet to receive the complete reports of all the bridges,” said a senior CR official who did not wish to be named.

IIT said reports of all bridges that had major concerns have been submitted. “Reports are pending of the bridges that do not have any major safety concern issue involved in them,” said Pradipta Banerjee, chairperson of the IIT committee conducting the audit of the bridges. The detailed reports on the remaining bridges are being prepared.

“The railways have a vast network and reports of 25 pages containing all details are being prepared on every bridge structure. The reports will be submitted to both CR and WR within two months,” said an official from IIT who was a part of the inspection team.

As a result of the audit, WR shut and dismantled Delisle bridge at Lower Parel in July 2018 while CR did the same for Patripool near Kalyan. Action was also taken on four RoBs at Ghatkopar, Currey Road, Byculla and Arthur Road. CR is currently repairing the cantilever portion of the RoB at Currey Road and removing utilities, structures and slabs from it. Operation of heavy vehicle more than 16 tonnes have been restricted at the RoBs at Ghatkopar, Byculla and Arthur Road where vehicles using the bridges cannot exceed a speed of 30 kmph. CR and WR also closed 24 bridge structures after the collapse, including the FOB between Matunga and Sion stations, a portion of the Kalanagar RoB in Bandra, and bridges at Mumbai Central, Malad, Andheri and Bhayandar. Staircases and other parts of these structures were repaired.

First Published: Jul 02, 2019 01:38 IST