Elphinstone soil quality concerns Army: Source

Mumbai: Union railway minister Piyush Goyal has said that apart from Elphinstone Road, the Army will also construct foot overbridges (FOB) at Currey Road and Ambivli by January 2018. But sources from the railways said that the Army has raised concerns about quality of soil on which the bridge is to be built at Parel-Elphinstone.

Another plan is to ask the Army to help in the work that is already underway at Ambivli and Currey Road stations to extend the FOBs there, and sources said they would not be completed without the help of the Army.

Mr Goyal spoke after conducting an inspection on the now infamous FOB on which the 23 commuters lost their lives during the stampede on September 29. He was accompanied by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the visit, which took place at around 10.30 am on Tuesday.

Mr Goyal also said, “We hope that with the help of the Army the work will be completed by January 2018 and this is the first time that the Army has been called in to help with the infrastructure of the city.”

But railways sources said the Army has raised concerns about the quality of the soil on which the FOB will be built at Parel-Elphinstone.

An official said it has been ascertained by the Army that the soil is extremely bad, that is they are afraid to place the pillars where they are being planned.

The official further added, “The pressure that would be exerted by the commuters would be too much.”

Sources said that both Currey Road and Ambivli stations would have only extensions to the existing FOBs and not completely new bridges.

Another official said, “The railways is doing extension work on the Currey Road FOB in the middle of the station. Extensions to the west landing and the east landing will be made by the Army. Similarly, an extension of the Ambivali FOB that lies towards Igatpuri will also be built by the Army.”

Currently, Parel and Elphinstone stations see a footfall of around three lakh per day.

Currey Road station sees approximately 81,000 commuters per day while Ambivali enjoys a footfall of 30,000 a day.