Gokhale Bridge construction: Western Railways to suspend train services in Mumbai for 20 days from 27 November

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Times of India. According to the report, the affected train details are yet to be released by the Western Railway. To minimize the impact on train service, blocks will be carried out during the night, TOI quoted Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of Western Railway, Sumit Thakur as saying.

ALSO READ: Railways to launch 3,000 new trains, increase passenger capacity to 1,000 crore in 5 years “We will undertake the blocks during the night so that it has minimal impact on the train services," Thakur said. As per details, the under-constructing Gokhale Bridge’s girder will be 90 meters, which will be the second-largest railway bridge in the metropolitan city. Each girder of the bridge has been assembled at the worksite.

The report added that the girder will be launched at a height of 25 meters from the ground level and will be lifted by a special crane as the girder weighs around 1,300 tonnes. Built in 1975 Gokhale Bridge is 80 metres long and 25 metres wide and is getting a new road overbridge at the estimated cost of around ₹90 crore. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning to open the bridge partially in February 2024, though the initial deadline for the bridge was November 2023.

The demolition of the bridge began by Western Railway in December 2022 and took four months to complete the work, with its final girder taken down in March this year. The authorities shut down the bridge in November 2022, after an inspection which found that there were various elements in the bridge such as RCC columns, tie beams, girders, deck slab, and bearings that are heavily distressed because of corrosion over the years, said the report. Citing the condition, the BMC declared the bridge unsafe and decided to reconstruct