Mumbai: Finally, Vidyavihar bridge lowered

The hanging Vidyavihar bridge has finally been lowered and placed safely within just two weeks of this paper highlighting the issue on its front page.

With the metal support frames and boxes removed from the platform, commuters now expect the railways to rebuild the central staircase of the foot-over bridge and restore the roof cover that had been removed for work.

"Work has now started outside railway area on building approaches in available space as there have been land acquisition issues in the path of proposed bridge," an official said.

Commuters expected the railways to expedite their works on completing the central staircase by installing the roof to stay away from the heat and also before the monsoon approaches as the barricades on the island platform have made it difficult given the extreme crowding on the platform.

"Now that the bridge support has gone away from the platform, the railways should concentrate on restoring their platform areas," commuter Santosh Lele said.
mid-day had highlighted that the mega open web girder east-west bridge at Vidyavihar station spanning 10 functional lines had been left hanging on steel stands and hydraulic jacks.

The BMC has been constructing an east-to-west road over the bridge at Vidyavihar station, which will imrpove local connectivity between the eastern express highway, Ghatkopar Mahul Road, and the arterial LBS Road. Three months after placing girders over rail lines, in a shocking lapse, the partially complete Vidyavihar bridge had been left hanging on metal blocks even as thousands of trains pass by below ferrying commuters. Lowering of the bridge, the final stage of the girder launch had been still awaited. The project is being executed by the BMC.

Responding to this, the railways had taken the matter very seriously with senior officials immediately visiting the site the next morning and refuting that there had been any unsafe condition and stating that the delay had been happening from the BMC's side as the civic team had been awaiting bearings required for the lowering of the bridge since November.

Bridge to fixed this weekend

The pending railway portion of the bridge at Vikhroli is expected to be completed soon with the placing of girders finally happening starting this week. Work will go on till next Friday. It has been one of the most delayed projects, given the land issues surrounding it.

The major task of placing girders should be completed by next week with the Central Railway announcing special traffic and power blocks on all six lines between the Ghatkopar-Bhandup section for launching of girders for the Vikhroli road over bridge during night hours from 6-7 April midnight (Saturday/Sunday) to 11-12 April (Thursday/Friday).

This project, which began in 2018, was supposed to be completed by December 2023, but the deadline was later extended. The cost of the project increased from R40.77 crore to R88.75 crore over the years.

The east-west connectivity at Vikhroli has been an old issue. There is an east-west road bridge at Ghatkopar and another at Kanjurmarg station. The residents of Vikhroli have to take a detour to Ghatkopar or Kanjurmarg if they want to travel from east to west or vice-versa. While the arterial Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg lies in the west, the eastern express highway runs in the east. The bridge will not only benefit commuters but also the fire brigade and ambulances. Vikhroli East and West lack a fire station and public hospital respectively.