Mumbai: Built by Indian Army, new Elphinstone road foot-over bridge is now open for public

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday inaugurated a new foot-overbridge at Mumbai's Elphinstone road, months after 23 people died in a stampede, an incident that highlighted the poor state of infrastructure at suburban railway stations.

Speaking on the occasion, Goyal said, "Indian Railways is committed to building infrastructure quickly."

"In Mumbai, bridges are made and infrastructure is improved quickly. Indian Railways is committed to it," Goyal said.

The new Elphinstone bridge is built by Army's Bombay Sappers at a cost of Rs 10.44 crore (approx).

In an unprecedented move, the Army was roped in to construct the bridges after tragedy struck on September 29, 2017, at Elphinstone station during the morning rush hour.

The project was completed in a record 117 days by the Army engineers - a fact lauded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet on Tuesday.

Thanking the Indian Army, the Western Railways tweeted, "73.1 m long & 3.65 m wide Elphinstone Road station FOB connecting Parel station, wch is built by @adgpi in record 117 days will be opened today. A big thanks to braveheart Indian Army!"

The new FOB at Elphinstone road station is 70 m long and 3.5 m wide and the project is of worth Rs 18 crore. The 30 m long and 3.5 m wide FOB at Currey Road has been constructed at a cost of Rs 3 crore and the 20 m long and 3.5 m wide FOB at Ambivli has been developed at a cost of Rs 2.7 crore.

Meanwhile, according to reports, Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel will also be posted on the new Elphinstone foot over-bridge to manage the crowd.

The unfortunate stampede on the Elphinstone Road foot-over bridge, which occurred on September 29 last year, claimed twenty-three lives. The responsible authorities indulged in a blame game following the mishap only to blame the heavy rains for the mishap.

Western Railway, in a conclusion after an investigation, said that the tragedy was a result of heavy rains and confusion between the word 'pul' (bridge) and 'phool' (flower) which caused a fear and chaos among the commuters. The report was made on the basis of statements given by 30 people who survived the tragedy.

OneIndia News