A month after Western Railway demanded Rs 59.14 crore from the Maharashtra Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation as way-leave charges before permitting the demolition of the Elphinstone bridge, Central Railway (CR) has now joined in, escalating its own demand from Rs 9 crore to Rs 47 crore.

Western Railway’s earlier claim of Rs 59.14 crore for reconstruction work had already been disputed by Maharail, which argued that the fee was excessive and that, under Railway Board rules, charges should be calculated only for the portion of work supervised by each railway zone. With both railways raising steep demands, Maharail will now end up paying a combined way-leave fee of around Rs 106 crore, against the total bridge project cost of Rs 165 crore.