The Western Railways (WR) is going to suspend train services in Mumbai for 20 days from 27 November. The crucial 20-day block schedule is to facilitate the launching of a girder for the Gokhale bridge under construction, connecting SV Road and Western Express Highway at Andheri.
According to a report in The Free Press Journal, the focus is to launch the south carriageway girder after the successful launch of the north carriageway girder in October.
Spanning an impressive 90m, this girder will become the city’s second-largest railway bridge girder. The assembly, pushing and launching processes will take place at a height of 25m, the report stated.
According to FPJ, each girder, weighing approximately 1,300 tonnes, will be lifted and launched using a specially designed crane. The Gokhale bridge, constructed in 1975, is undergoing a comprehensive reconstruction estimated at Rs 90 crore.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) aims to partially open the bridge in February 2024, following delays in meeting the initial November 2023 deadline, the report stated.
Local residents had recently sought chief minister Eknath Shinde’s intervention in the matter citing that that the opening of the Gopal Krishna Gokhale bridge has been delayed several times. The move comes to ensure timely completion of the bridge construction, the publication reported.
Dhaval Shah, President of Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizens Association was quoted as saying: “At the time when the bridge was shut, we had requested to construct it with the help of the Indian Army who had built the foot over bridge in Parel in record time. Our fear has come true with the fourth extension of the deadline for the opening of Gokhale bridge. We suspect the new deadline will also get extended, so we want the chief minister to intervene.”
Apart from this, the Western Railway on Wednesday announced the cancellation few trains both on the Up and Down main lines between Valsad and Dungri for two hours on November 23 (Thursday).
It cited a girder launch for a railway overbridge as the reason. The train services on this stretch will be affected for two hours between 11.10 AM to 1.10 PM on Thursday.