Is it that hard to give city infra with zero problems?

The stairway leading to the escalator

A year after the Himalaya Bridge at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) was opened for public use, the BMC is still struggling to complete the work on the escalator for the bridge. Once ready, commuters would have to climb at least 12 steps to access the escalator of the new foot overbridge (FOB). The bridge collapsed on March 14, 2019, exactly five years ago.

The escalators are installed at a height to avoid damage due to water logging or to avoid being hit by vehicles or damaged by other material. The height though is mostly two to three feet with five to six stairs. However, at CST, the gap between the escalator and the road is more than 7 feet and the corporation constructed 12 steps leading to it. The height may be reduced though.

Some rail passengers have rued that having such a height may defeat the purpose of the escalator itself, though they claim they still have to talk to Railway personnel in charge.

On March 14 2019, the bridge collapsed leading to the loss of seven The civic body now needs to expedite the work of the Himalaya Bridge which is 30 metres long and six metres wide. While looking at a definite finish date, attention must be paid to the escalators.

While the experts will surely have a design in mind, we should not go the Nana Chowk skywalk way, where some arms of the giant protuberances from the Railway station lie unused as escalators stopped working soon after the skywalk came up. Numerous reports have highlighted this state of affairs, yet, the non-functional escalators lie comatose. A waste of public money and hindrance to the residents of buildings behind this structure.

That is why there has to be long-term and a 360-degree vision for infra.

These new escalators on the bridge must do the job, and the bridge made accessible to the public in good time.