Mumbai Bridge That Collapsed Had Passed Safety Audit in 2017

New Delhi: Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday termed as “unfortunate” and “unexpected” the overbridge collapse in Andheri amid heavy rains.

Goyal ordered an inquiry into the incident by the commissioner of rail safety and said a report would be submitted in 15 days. He added that the Railways was trying to restore all the lines by the end of the day and the five people injured in the collapse would be given a compensation of Rs 1 lakh each along with medical treatment.

The minister also said the Railways would carry out a joint safety audit of 445 such bridges in suburban Mumbai to prevent similar incidents in the future.

An overbridge at a railway station in Mumbai’s Andheri suburb collapsed on Tuesday during heavy rains, disrupting train services, injuring five people and putting the spotlight once again on the creaky infrastructure of the metropolis.

A spokesperson of the Western Railway said the bridge was last inspected in November 2017 and no structural flaws were found in the audit. The structure was one of the 2,000 bridges and 550 overbridges that were thoroughly inspected last year, railway officials said.

All the bridges are inspected at least twice a year — before the monsoon and after the monsoon — they said, adding that some of the structures are inspected more frequently, depending on their condition.

The railways has set a target of inspecting 10,000 bridges and 2,870 ROBs at least once over a period five years.

The officials said after a foot overbridge collapsed at the Elphinstone Road station in Mumbai in September last year, killing 23 people, all the overbridges in the Mumbai suburban area were inspected by the Western Railways and the Central Railways.

(With PTI inputs)