This was detected by engineers of the Indian Railways and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, who have been assigned the task of inspecting 445 bridges across Mumbai and its metropolitan region.
The overhead equipment cables, which power the trains, have become a cause of concern for both the Central and Western Railways. As part of inspections of road over bridges (ROBs) passing over rail lines, it has come to fore that these cables are attached to bridges, rendering them risky. This was detected by engineers of the Indian Railways and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, who have been assigned the task of inspecting 445 bridges across Mumbai and its metropolitan region.
These cables hang from the bottom of the ROBs. "We found that in some bridges, cables are attached to the cantilever, above which footpath exists. We will be shifting the cables onto the main girder in the coming days," said a railway official on condition of anonymity.
These cantilever bridges are not directly a part of the main bridge — like the one in Andheri — and are prone to collapse. The OHE cables and their paraphernalia weigh at least 500 kgs or more and in case it snaps it would put more weight on the bridge below which it hangs.
The Railways are identifying 'risky' ROBs. Sources said that some of these bridges are in — Currey Road, Chinchpokli, Byculla, Mahalaxmi, Lower Parel, and Elphinstone Road, and were built in the British era.
The officials will now start shifting the OHE cables and fix them to the main girder in the middle, wherever needed. "We will do this during the mega blocks," said a senior railway official.
At the time of power upgradation from 1,500 volt to 25,000 volt, many of these OHE cables were embedded into the ROB. Since the Andheri bridge collapse, the WR, CR, BMC, with the help of IIT-B have been inspecting bridges. So far, they have inspected 23 ROBs.
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