Mumbai: A section of a bridge caved in at Andheri station in Mumbai this morning following incessant rain, leaving five people injured, with two said to be in critical condition. No casualties have been reported from the collapse. The Gokhale bridge on SV Road connects Andheri East and Andheri West stations and is used by thousands of commuters each day.
A part of the bridge, which is on the southern end of Andheri station between platform numbers 7-8, crashed around 7.30 am, ripping off overhead wires which were left on the tracks.
Traffic at the bridge has been stopped and trains, which are the lifeline of India’s financial capital, have been affected.
The routes of some local trains on other lines have been extended to clear the spillover at Ghatkopar station, officials said. Local trains are running between Churchgate (in south Mumbai) and Bandra (in the western suburbs), and between Virar (located in neighboring Palghar district) and Goregaon (western suburb), a Railways official told news agency Press Trust of India.
Operations at the Harbour line section have been restored. The first local train ran at 2.19 pm, since the bridge collapse occurred. Railways minister Piyush Goyal had earlier tweeted saying railway officials were working towards restoring harbour line operations by 2 pm.
Trains running from the Harbour line section run from Andheri station to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in south Mumbai.
The bridge crash damaged a portion of the platform roof, blocked railway lines and damaged high-tension electric wires and overhead power equipment, according to an IANS report. A team of engineers are working to restore services, an official said.
Officials said the debris has to be removed and the wires fixed before trains could resume. Meanwhile, Western Railways has tweeted saying cranes have been deployed to lift the slabs of the bridge from the railway tracks.
“Thankfully, no train was passing beneath the track,” said Western Railway spokesperson Ravinder Bhakar.
The collapse of a foot over bridge on the Western Railway tracks in Andheri will leave many office goers hungry with Mumbai’s famed dabbawalas suspending all their tiffin box deliveries on the WR routes.
Dabbawalas usually take suburban trains to deliver cheap home-cooked food mainly to office goers across the length and breadth of Mumbai. Approximately 5000 men deliver more than two lakh dabbas or tiffins across India’s financial capital.
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