Western Railway (WR) will build the new road overbridge (ROB) at Lower Parel station, it was decided on Thursday.
The decision was taken in a joint meeting of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal, bringing an end to the long-standing dispute between WR and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). High-ranking officials of the State government, the Railways, the BMC and other civic bodies attended the meeting.
In a meeting between the BMC and WR on July 25, Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta had directed that the railway portion of the bridge will be built by the Railways while the BMC will construct the approach roads to the bridge. The cost of construction will be borne by the BMC. Sources said a similar model was suggested during Thursday’s meeting for six other old bridges which will need to be reconstructed. However, officials said the new Hancock Bridge and Patripool Bridge will be built by BMC and Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) respectively.
The new bridge is expected to be longer than the existing one and around 1.5 m higher as well. Railway officials said due to the new span of the bridge, the two main pillars will have to be erected outside railway land, in the BMC’s jurisdiction. Officials also said they need to coordinate with nearly 39 departments of the BMC for the underground utilities.
WR is dismantling the old ROB, which was deemed to be unsafe during a joint inspection by railway and BMC officials, headed by experts from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
The dismantling work is expected to take at least three months.
