Work initiates at Elphinstone Road FOB; Maha Security Force to survey ‘Crowd Management’ at Mumbai Railway Stations

Mumbai, November 16: The work to build the new foot over bridge (FOB) at Elphinstone Road station has taken its pace as Indian Army was assigned the duty to develop the new bridge. On first step Indian Army submitted the soil test report to begin the construction work. The soil testing reports are positive and the work of erecting piers for an additional FOB at the station is set to begin. 

The Army has planned to construct an additional FOB of 10 metre wide at Elphinstone Road station. This bridge would be constructed between the north FOB of Parel station and would lead to the flower market situated at Elphinstone Road side. The Western Railways has provided an advance amount of Rs 50 lakh to the Army for constructing the additional bridge. The work would be completed by January 2018.

“We are conducting meetings with the co-ordinating officer of the army in order to expedite the work of constructing the bridges,” said Mukul Jain, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) of Western Railways.

“The plan is to use the space for landing at the west of Elphinstone Road bridge after the demolition of the booking office. This will help to avoid over-crowding on the bridge,” said a Western Railway official.

The Army troops would be constructing similar bridges at Ambivali station and Currey Road station on the Central Railway.

Also Maharashtra Security Force (MSF) and Central Railway officials are about to begin survey Central Railway Stations to prepare a plan for crowd management. The survey will look at commuters’ movements to determine the path they take to enter and exit the stations and how they assemble at foot over bridges (FoBs).