Following the Amritsar tragedy it has now been decided by the Western Railway that they will build 74 foot over bridges in city in the next two years. They shall be constructing it on the stations and mid-sections between two railway stations. This will prove to be a boon, if used by people, rather than crossing tracks. This year till September, over 1200 people have died in Mumbai, while crossing tracks.
According to the WR officials, they have set a target of building 74 foot over bridges by March 2020. In 2017-18, the WR had built 10 FOBs. "We will be constructing 39 FOBs by March 2019. There are few remaining on which work is underway," said Ravinder Bhakar, Chief PRO, BEST Undertaking.
In 2019-20, the rail authorities have planned 25 additional FOBs - these shall come both at stations and locations between two stations where there are heavy trespassing and encroachments on tracks. Majority of these, at 17 FOBs will be constructed by Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation during this period.
This is a big number. The decision to construct more FOBs were taken namely after two major incidents of Elphinstone stampede and Andheri bridge collapse. In both the incidents people lost their lives. Audit of bridges was later carried out for which IIT Bombay was roped in.
The railways are planning to also intersect the FOBs in a way that people need not walk down on the platform unless they want to catch trains. Sources said that they are also identifying fresh locations where trespassing are happening regularly so that these can be plugged. The authorities are building cement concrete walls along the tracks — with a hope that these are not broken down by encroachers.
OTHER PLANS
- The Railways is planning to intersect the FOBs in such a way that people need not walk down on the platforms unless they want to catch trains
- They are also locating fresh areas where trespassing is a regular affair, so that they can be plugged
