FIVE PEOPLE were injured and train services were hit when part of a 47-year-old road overbridge (ROB) across the railway line at Andheri collapsed on the tracks between Andheri and Vile Parle stations on the Western Railway’s (WR) suburban line. According to the latest yearly audit conducted by the Railways, the ROB was among eight such bridges that needed repair. The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), Western Circle, has ordered an inquiry into the incident. The pedestrian pavement along the bridge collapsed a little past 7.30 am just as the morning crowd of office goers was trickling into the station. The collapse blocked the tracks and damaged overhead equipment, hitting WR’s suburban services. An inspection in November last year had shown corrosion of parts under the bridge. Surface construction work on the pedestrian pathway had made that portion “structurally weak”, the inspection had found, said an official. But the damage was not considered serious enough to warrant urgent repairs. “While we had asked the municipal corporation for Rs 13 crore (for repairs).. they have given us Rs 4 crore till now. Repair work on five other bridges is underway,” said a senior official. Also read | Andheri bridge collapse: Top developments About 500 employees of WR and 40 personnel from the NDRF, Mumbai Police and firemen conducted search and rescue operations, followed by the task of clearing the debris. Seven tow vehicles, five excavators and two cranes were deployed. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, who visited the site in the evening, said the CRS report would be submitted within 15 days. The bridge was last audited on November 12, 2017, and “no substantial risk” was found, Goyal said. A joint structural and safety audit of 445 foot overbridges, road overbridges, and of pipelines along railway tracks will be conducted over the next six months by IIT-Powai, BMC and Railways. “If the audit shows that a bridge design has flaws or requires repairs, the Railways will take it up on priority basis to ensure safety,” Goyal said. The minister announced compensation of Rs 1 lakh each to the five injured — Harish Kohli, Manoj Mehta, Dwarkaprasad Sharma, Girdhari Singh and Asmita Katkar. Two of them are in a critical condition, with Katkar requiring amputation of the left arm and facial surgery and Mehta suffering from poly trauma chest injuries.
