Foot overbridge at Dombivli to shut from April 1; CR to build new one
The old bridge will be replaced with a new six-metre-wide FOB
The Central Railway (CR) has decided to shut a foot overbridge (FOB) at the Kalyan- end of Dombivli station from April 1.
There are three FOBs at the station and it sees around 3.5 lakh commuters daily.
“From April 1, the old FOB will be closed. The old bridge will be replaced with a new six-metre-wide FOB. Hence, passengers are requested to use the other two FOBs at Dombivli station until the new one is ready,” said a senior official from Central Railway, Mumbai.
According to local activists from Dombivli, the demand to close the old FOB was proposed long back. However, following the CSMT tragedy earlier this month, the issue was raised by commuters again.
“After the Elphinstone bridge collapse incident, we highlighted the issue in October 2017, and contacted senior authorities of CR and railway ministry through the social media . However, after continuous follow-ups, CR finally decided to close the bridge for repair,” said Vishwanath Biwalkar, a citizen activist from Dombivli.
Apart from this, another FOB between Dombivli and Thakurli is in a dilapidated condition.
“The condition of the FOB, which records over a 1,000 footfalls daily, was also highlighted with the railway authorities. Hence, recently the railways closed the access to the FOB by putting up a banner saying that the bridge is under repair,” said Biwalkar.
According to CR official, they have not set a deadline to complete the new FOB at Dombivli station.
As far as FOB between Thakurli and Dombivli is concerned, an official from CR said, “The part of the bridge which comes over railway track will be repaired by the CR. However, the repair work of the stairs to this FOB at both east and west side is supposed to be taken up by the civic body. At present, the foot overbridge has been closed by CR.”
Commuters want railways to speed up the work.
“The process of constructing a new FOB at Dombivli station and the repair work of FOB between Dombivli and Thakurli should be carried out on a war footing. The delay may cause more inconvenience to commuters,” said Divya Acharya, 28, a regular commuter and a resident of Dombivli.