Western Railway to rebuild Malad skywalk after Diwali

The Western Railway has decided to rebuild a 40-year-old skywalk in suburban Malad after its efforts to seek funds from the Mumbai civic body for the project failed to elicit a positive response.

A senior WR official said this cantilever type of skywalk at Malad - located between Ranisati MCGM South Foot Over Bridge and Elevated Booking Office and connected with Western Railways (South) remains repairable.

"Despite a few rounds of repairs in the past, the condition of the skywalk remained the same.

"Therefore, we decided to rebuild the skywalk back in 2016 itself and approached the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) in August 2016 to provide funds of Rs 5.45 crore for the execution of this work," Western Railway chief PRO Ravinder Bhakar said in a statement.

"But the required funds are still awaited. However, the Western Railway is determined to execute this urgent nature work to ensure safety of passengers.

"To ensure the safety of passengers, the skywalk was closed in July this year and a tender was opened in subsequent month of August and the same was awarded on August 31 itself," Bhakar said.

He said that WR has now decided to take up the work right after Diwali and added shifting of utilities under the skywalk is in progress.

"This infrastructural makeover will benefit thousands of suburban commuters at Malad station and make their daily commute easier and safer," he said.

The WR has been working in the direction to overhaul many Foot Over Bridges (FOBs) and Road Over Bridges (ROBs) in the metropolis, Bhakar said.

On July 3 this year, a road overbridge, built in 1971, had collapsed near the eastern side of the Andheri railway station and some parts of it fell on rail tracks, killing five people and disrupting train services.

The accident had prompted Railway Minister Piyush Goyal to order a safety audit of all the FOBs built above the railway tracks.