Army to build commuter bridge for Railways in Mumbai

For the first time, Indian Army engineers shall design and construct a commuter bridge on a "war footing" at a Mumbai railway station, a Western Railway official said on Tuesday.

"The bridge will be a new one, independent of the one being planned and constructed by the railways. It will be located towards the Parel side at the northern end of Elphinstone Road station," Western Railway Divisional Railway Manager Mukul Jain told IANS.

He said an Army team will identify the spot, submit its foot overbridge design and plans to the railways before proceeding with the work.

According to Jain, this is the first time such a civilian contract would be handled by the Indian Army, which is known to have vast engineering expertise.

The developments came a little over a month after 23 commuters were killed in a stampede on a narrow foot overbridge connecting Elphinstone Road with Parel on Central Railway on September 29.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and other officials on Tuesday surveyed the Elphinstone Road station to take stock of the improvement works in progress post-stampede.

Earlier, Mumbai BJP President Ashish Shelar had met Sitharaman and Goyal seeking the expertise of Army engineers who are known to make durable bridges in critical locations at high speed.

--IANS

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