It's been a year since Gokhale bridge in Andheri had collapsed. At 7.33 am, on July 3, 2018, the lives of five families changed irrevocably after the collapse. This, however, put the engineers from the railways, BMC and other government agencies into an overdrive as 445 bridges across Mumbai were to undergo inspection for which IIT Bombay was roped in. A year later, the audit of major bridges was carried out; the foremost suggestion made to the Western Railway was to keep monitoring the health of five major bridges in Mumbai.
These are the road over bridges (ROB) of Frere bridge in Charni Road, Bellasis bridge in Mumbai Central, Mahalaxmi, Carol bridge in Prabhadevi and Tilak bridge in Dadar. "The audit had suggested instrumentation and health monitoring of these five ROBs. We have engaged IIT Bombay for the said work which will start shortly. These bridges will be eventually rebuilt by the BMC," said a senior WR official.
By instrumentation, the engineers will measure the strength of the bridge, which will help them in gauging its health, and gradually necessary measures can be taken. The five mentioned bridges were built during the British era and need attention. In fact, the audit report of these bridges too had mentioned the need to monitor them.
In the past one year, apart from Gokhale bridge, the ones at Kalanagar and Vasai have also undergone repairs. Here they tried to improve the durability of the bridges namely by using stainless steel which is corrosion resistant. "We have used the latest technology while carrying out repair and strengthening works on the bridges of Dharavi, Andheri and Malad. We have used carbon laminates which has five times more tensile strength than steel and is also light," said another WR official.
Moreover, the WR authorities have changed the designs of the foot over bridges (FOB). The revised ones can be seen at nine stations – Marine Lines, Prabhadevi, Mahim, Mahalaxmi, Dadar, etc. "We will be constructing 15 more FOBs of this new type which does not catch corrosion easily from the saline atmosphere," informed Ravinder Bhakar, Chief PRO, WR.
These new FOBs are made of stainless steel and have been designed in such a manner that its columns are close to each other to prevent the ingress of water, thereby preventing corrosion. The roofs have also been made of galvanised sheets and it has been laid half cylindrically.
