Months after stampede at Mumbai's Elphinstone Station, new foot-over-bridge inaugurated by Rail Minister

MUMBAI: Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday inaugurated the new Elphinstone foot-over-bridge (FOB) in Mumbai, months after 23 people died in a stampede.

"In Mumbai, bridges are made and infrastructure is improved quickly, Indian Railways is committed to it," said Goyal after the inauguration.

Two other foot-over bridges at the Central line Ambivali near Kalyan and at Currey Road were also inaugurated.

The Ministry of Railways joined hands with the Ministry of Defence to build these new FOBs.

Earlier, the Railway Minister had tweeted, "Mumbaikars are grateful to the Army for constructing three foot-overbridges in Elphinstone Road, Currey Road and Ambivilli in a record time, setting high standards of speed, skill and professionalism."

Constructed by Indian Army in a record time of 117 days, the new Elphinstone foot-over bridge is 73.1 m long and 3.65 m wide. The cost of building the FOB was 10.44 crore.

The Elphinstone-Parel FOB will be much convenient for flower and fish vendors of nearby markets during wee hours. Nearly 1.6  lakh passengers who commute daily at these two stations of Parel and Elphinstone will be highly benefited.

It spans over both Western and Central Railway tracks and connects Parel station on the East side and Phoolwali Gali outside the Elphinstone Road station on the west side. 

This additional foot-over bridge will help to reduce the congestion on existing FOB and platforms.

The foot-over bridge at Ambivali is 20 metres long and 3.5 meters wide, connecting platform number 1 and 2 on Kasara end.

The FOB at Currey Road will be 30 m long and 3.5 m wide at the CSMT end from Platform to East side.