According to the central railway, which will hand over the bridge to the BMC after the demolition, it is expected to take three months to completely demolish Carnac Bridge (Express photo by Pradip Das)Almost eight years after it was declared unsafe for use and was shut for vehicular traffic, the Central Railway Friday finally began the demolition work of Carnac Bridge in South Mumbai.
The Central Railway officials said they were unable to get the NOC and permission from the Mumbai Traffic Police and the BMC to begin the work until recently and after receiving the necessary permissions, the work began from Friday.
The Carnac Bridge is located between Masjid Bunder and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and goes over the central railway tracks. The bridge was constructed in 1868-69 to provide access to the dock-side
According to the central railway, which will hand over the bridge to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation after the demolition, it is expected to take three months to completely demolish Carnac Bridge. The BMC is likely to take two years to complete the construction of the new bridge.
An official said keeping in view the services of the suburban trains, the Central Railway has decided to carry out the dismantling work in the available corridor margin during night time and also during the mega block.
Before the mega block, the dismantling of the parapet, dismantling of vertical columns along the parapet, dismantling of trough concrete of corroded trough and advance cutting will be carried out.
“After this work, a mega block of about 30 hours is being planned to remove the girder part and complete the demolition work. The mega block is being planned for the third month of dismantling. During this block, the entire steel structure will be removed by using cranes,” said an official.