Andheri bridge collapse: Western Railway 'ignored its own warning'

Andheri bridge collapse, Mumbai (Image: Reuters)

The Andheri overbridge that collapsed onto railway tracks on the morning of Tuesday, July 3, was a disaster waiting to happen, according to the Western Railway’s pre-monsoon inspection conducted just two months ago.

It resulted in five people suffering injuries, a daylong disruption of train services and massive traffic. A major tragedy was averted, largely due to an alert motorman who applied emergency brakes to halt a train metres from the crash site.

The Gokhale flyover, which was used by thousands of commuters every day, connects Andheri East to West. After the incident, the traffic police closed the flyover and advised commuters to follow certain routes to avoid chaos.

A report by Mumbai Mirror said according to a senior railway official, a bridge inspector from the railway’s Andheri section had carried out a detailed survey of the 47-year-old Gokhale Bridge in April and found large-scale corrosion along the bridge. The bridge was last repaired in 2011.

“A report was submitted to the divisional engineering department saying there was need for maintenance work to be carried out in a planned manner. The engineering department had drafted a proposal based on the inspection report,” said the official.

“The BMC has to start taking responsibility for all this. It cannot say that the property belongs to Railways. You (BMC) cannot pass the buck or wash off your hands saying this property belongs to some other authority,” the Bombay High Court said, giving example of last year’s stampede at the Elphinstone Road foot overbridge, when “no one took responsibility”.

Western Railway is planning to carry out a joint inspection of all road overbridges in the suburban section to ascertain stability of the pedestrian portion of the structures to prevent incidents like Tuesday’s crash.