Western Railway begins safety audit of bridges in Mumbai

Western Railway has started inspecting bridges above its tracks as part of a safety audit that was ordered by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal following the collapse of a portion of a bridge at Andheri station on July 3.

A WR statement informed that the audit began yesterday with a tower wagon being used for the purpose that reduced the time for such bridge inspection from four hours, by the conventional method using ladders, to two hours.

The audit is being conducted jointly by personnel from the Railways and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and experts from IIT-Bombay.

WR chief spokesperson Ravinder Bhakar said that the Mahalaxmi Road Overbridge, built in 1920, was inspected yesterday, by senior WR officials including general manager AK Gupta, and it was found to be structurally sound and safe.

He added that Bandra-Kalanagar ROB, built in 1961, was also inspected in the early hours of today.

This bridge too, he said, was found to be structurally sound.

The WR statement informed that there were 110 foot overbridges, 29 road overbridges and four water pipeline bridges between Churchgate and Virar stations.