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 pageWith the metal support frames and boxes removed from the platform commuters now expect the railways to rebuild the central staircase of the footover bridge and restore the roof cover that had been removed for workldquoWork has now started outside railway area on building approaches in available space as there have been land acquisition issues in the path of proposed bridgerdquo an official saidCommuters 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 platformldquoNow that the bridge support has gone away from the platform the railways should concentrate on restoring their platform areasrdquo commuter Santosh Lele saidmidday had highlighted that the mega open web girder eastwest bridge at Vidyavihar station spanning 10 functional lines had been left hanging on steel stands and hydraulic jacksThe BMC has been constructing an easttowest 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 BMCResponding 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 BMCrsquos side as the civic team had been awaiting bearings required for the lowering of the bridge since NovemberBridge to fixed this weekendThe 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 itThe 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 GhatkoparBhandup section for launching of girders for the Vikhroli road over bridge during night hours from 67 April midnight SaturdaySunday to 1112 April ThursdayFridayThis 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 R4077 crore to R8875 crore over the yearsThe eastwest connectivity at Vikhroli has been an old issue There is an eastwest 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 viceversa 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