The list identifies 275 railway bridges across 16 zones on Indian Railways that need to be rebuilt immediately
Two of Mumbai's busiest commuter train lines are also home to some of the deadliest foot-overbridges (FOB), an internal Railways survey shows.
According to a list of dangerous bridges collated by the Railways, the city's lifeline — Central Railway and Western Railway — fall in the top three zones where bridges need urgent attention. On CR, there are 61 bridges and on WR, 42 bridges that need to be rebuilt. However, WR officials did not confirm if the Elphinstone Road FOB — where a stampede last month claimed 23 lives — was part of the list.
The list identifies 275 railway bridges across 16 zones on Indian Railways that need to be rebuilt immediately.
Sources said that the Railway Board had collated a list of these dangerous bridges and had issued a letter to railway zones on September 21, just a week before the fatal stampede.
The letter, a copy of which is with DNA, states the need to inspect and rehabilitate these bridges. Turn to P4
This comes at a time when the audit report of railway stations in Mumbai is expected this week. The audit report will highlight the drawbacks of the suburban rail system.
The most fatal zone is the East Central Railway zone with 63 bridges that need repairs. There is one bridge in the Lucknow Division, under the Northern Railway, which is in a precarious condition and needs to be immediately rebuilt. In 2017-18, the railways plan to come together to rehabilitate 114 bridges; of which CR will rebuild 20 bridges and WR will rebuild 13 bridges.
'It seems that proper time-bound planning has not been done by the railways for rehabilitation of these bridges. This creates a doubt whether the correct rating, appropriate to the actual condition, of the bridge has been assigned or not," states the letter. This comes at a time when Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal rapped officials for not taking safety aspects seriously. AK Saxena, Director General (PR), Railway Board said, "The railway minister has asked the zones not to worry about funds as far as work on safety is concerned. And so work on rehabilitating and rebuilding these railway bridges will be expedited."
The letter adds that field officers incharge of maintaining and studying the health of railway bridges need to be educated by the Chief Bridge Engineers for determining the correct condition of bridges and taking necessary remedial measures for safe movement of trains.
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