WR begins demolition of Gokhale Bridge, plans mega block soon

Mumbai: On Monday, Western Railway (WR) started demolishing Gokhale Bridge – its closure had recently caused much heartburn among commuters, as their easy option of traversing east to west of Andheri was blocked.

The railways have started removing the asphalt on the bridge, which will be followed by dismantling dividers, iron rods and girders. The work is being carried out in a manner that train services, running below the bridge, are not affected. In the next 15 days, WR will put together a detailed plan for a mega block of the trains before they start removing the girders.

“The mega block is likely to happen during the festival holidays. This will be followed by removal of structural frames situated above the railway lines, in January. The complete demolition of the bridge will be completed by March 2023,” said a senior WR official.

On December 2, WR released a limited tender for the demolition of the bridge which was sanctioned to a private agency for ₹11.5 crore.

A portion of the bridge over the railway line will be built in two phases – in the first, the part on the Virar-end will be constructed while in the second, the Dadar side of the bridge will be built.

Earlier on Saturday, Aaditya Thackeray had tweeted that the two reports – by IIT-B and VJTI -- on the reopening of the bridge for Light Motor Vehicles (LMV) be made available to public by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). He also added that a third high powered committee of experts be formed for a time bound assessment on allowing LMVs on the bridge.

An official from the bridges department however said, “There is no question of re-opening now since the demolition work on the railway portion of the bridge has already begun.”

What experts say

HT on Monday got access to reports by IIT-B and VJTI, which gave recommendations for the bridge’s re-opening for LMVs in the middle portion. The six-point recommendation by IIT-B was prepared by Professor Alok Goyal. No major repair work was recommended by the institute.

The IIT-B report noted that the footpath was the most affected part of the bridge. “Footpath on the external girder has been affected due to corrosion. Necessary provisions should be made to ensure that no motor vehicle (even two-wheelers) run on it. Any debris or extra construction material should not be stored on the footpath.”

It also underscored, “Reinforced concrete (RC) piers were in a good condition with only some distress due to corrosion. In our opinion, no immediate corrective action is required for columns if the bridge is opened for LMVs.”

The VJTI had submitted a seven-point recommendation on re-opening of the bridge. It’s report stated that the bridge “can be opened for two-wheelers, three-wheelers and LMVs for a period of nine months after carrying out the repairs”.

The report by VJTI pointed out that BMC should look into the missing additional steel support below certain spans of the bridge.

In the past, the civic body had said that since both the reports were based on visual observations, it did not want put commuters’ lives at risk by re-opening it.

I S Chahal, municipal commissioner, said, “I did not accept the recommendations of IIT and VJTI for allowing traffic partially as it came with many riders and also meant daily inspection.”