Cables at Delisle Bridge to go under tracks

MUMBAI: The utility cables placed under Delisle bridge, also known as Lower Parel road overbridge (ROB), will now be transferred underneath the suburban railway tracks.

The decision comes after western railway (WR) received requests from different stakeholders asking for permission to get alternate connection for the cables after it was announced that the bridge would be dismantled. “Companies have approached us for laying utility cables underneath the tracks near the bridge. A licence fee is being charged for laying of utilities. Cables as deep as two feet will be placed, including water pipelines and telecom wires. It will not affect the train operations,” said a senior WR official. WR has commenced the process for dismantling the bridge, which will be stuck unless the utility cables are removed. “Dismantling of the bridge cannot be done until the utilities are removed from the bridge. The process of dismantling will take three months,” said an official.

Earlier, the WR had warned different stakeholders to remove the utility cables as their weight exerts extra pressure on the bridge. “Concerned departments have been requested by the WR to shift the utility materials by August 20. If the utilities are not shifted then they will be removed,” said a WR statement.

WR had also issued notifications in newspapers asking for the immediate removal of the utilities from the bridge.

The WR had shut the Delisle Bridge for vehicular traffic on July 24 as the structure was termed unsafe in an urgent audit. The audit is part of the inspection of 445 bridge structures that is being undertaken by experts from IIT Bombay, Railways and civic body following the Gokhale bridge collapse in Andheri on July 3.