Onus was on Railways to maintain ill-fated Andheri ROB: BMC

The Mumbai civic body said it was the Railways' responsibility to regularly check and maintain the 47-year-old road overbridge in suburban Andheri a portion of which collapsed today, injuring five people.

The Gokhale road overbridge (ROB), built in 1971, collapsed near the eastern side of the Andheri railway station and part of it fell on rail tracks this morning.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said the area where the mishap took place falls under the Railways' jurisdiction.

"The area where a portion of the bridge collapsed comes under the Railways. Therefore, it was Railways' duty to conduct a safety audit and carry out maintenance of the bridge," a senior BMC engineer said.

"We (the BMC) have no right to infringe on their territory. Its the Railways' responsibility to maintain property and infrastructure falling under their jurisdiction," the official said.

He said the "BMC regularly pays the amount incurred on construction, reconstruction and maintenance of our (the civic body's) bridges which fall in the Railways' jurisdiction".

In the last four years, the BMC has paid Rs 103.76 crore to the Central Railway (CR) and the Western Railway (WR) for work on such bridges, he said.

Earlier in the day, Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar said onus was on the Railways to maintain the ill-fated bridge as it passed over its territory.

Meanwhile, the WR has succeeded in restoring services on the Harbour corridor to minimise the inconvenience caused to passengers, while the repair work is underway on the other affected lines.

The CR is helping the WR in the restoration work by providing manpower and equipment.

According to a senior CR officer, "One special train from CSMT to Vasai (which falls on the WR section) and another from Vasai to CSMT were pressed into service to clear extra rush of passengers."