THE road overbridge (ROB) collapse on GK Gokhale flyover not only cut the north-south connectivity of Western Railway, but also impacted the Andheri East to West road commute through GK Gokhale flyover. Virar resident Vishnu Neeli, aged 63, reached Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport from Hyderabad in the wee hours on Tuesday. He reached Andheri station at 7.30 am by auto to take a train back home. “I sat in a train, but it has remained at the station since then,” he told The Indian Express, adding that he saw other trains screech to a halt on both ends of the station soon after the bridge collapse. Habib Rehman (78) was headed to work from Andheri to Vikhroli on Tuesday. “Metro is very expensive. I cant afford that,” he said. He boarded the train at Andheri station since 10 am hoping trains to Dadar would resume. Teachers Rubina Abdul Shaikh and Farzana Ahmed had to travel to Mira Road and Vasai respectively from their school in Andheri East. The two travel to school every day by train. At around 10.30 am, both remained stranded at Andheri station waiting for further announcement to travel north. Another commuter, Prakash Kawankar, lives in Andheri and travels to Bandra for work. “I am returning home as roads to South Mumbai have a lot of traffic today,” he said. Utpal Singh, a food-stall owner on Andheri station platform number 5, said, “I saw a slow train for Churchgate leave shortly after 7.30 am from this platform. It suddenly stopped short. That is when we realised there was a bridge collapse,” he said, adding that the crowd swelled on all platforms between 7.30 am till 9.30 am. At Andheri station, regular announcements on loudspeakers stated: “Train to and from Andheri station on any platform will not function until next update.” Several commuters, however, did not know trains were functioning from Goregaon towards the north and from Bandra towards the south.
