No 36-hour mega block for demolishing part of Lower Parel bridge this weekend, confirms WR
The mega block may start from Saturday night and extend till the wee hours of Monday (Representational Image)
Railway authorities may schedule a 36-hour mega block starting Saturday night to undertake the partial demolition of the Delisle bridge, which runs over the rail tracks near Lower Parel station.
Update: Western Railway on Saturday morning confirmed that no 36-hour block will take place this weekend (headline changed in accordance with update)
According to a report in the Times of India, the block is expected to start from Saturday night and extend all the way until the wee hours of Monday.
The mega block will affect services between Prabhadevi and Churchgate stations, as a result of which local trains may only run up to Dadar station and outstation ones will either be cancelled or terminated at Bandra Terminus.
Officials said that the plan for executing the demolition is still in the works and the tender for finalising the contractor will be floated once it is in place.
“It will take 24 to 36 hours to demolish the bridge. We will first have to remove the OHE wires that run below the bridge,” a WR official told the daily.
Since the bridge has multiple utility lines under the affected portion, a coordination meeting with BMC officials has been convened on Saturday to decide the plan of action.
“We will also have to work out an operational plan for suburban and long-distance trains. While local trains will run up to Dadar, many long-distance trains may cancelled as we do not have pit lines and stabling lines at Bandra Terminus to accommodate all trains that terminate at Mumbai Central,” the official added.
The Delisle-Lower Parel road-over bridge was closed for pedestrians and motorists earlier this week after it was deemed unsafe. It was reopened for pedestrians yesterday following a joint inspection by BMC, railway, and traffic police officials.
Since the bridge was used by both pedestrians and vehicles, both WR and BMC initially passed the onus of dismantling the existing structure and building the new bridge to the other party.
However, since the newly planned bridge will be taller and longer than the current one, thereby requiring pillars to come up on civic land, railways has asked BMC to build part of it and foot the construction cost.
