Army set to begin work on new FOB at Elphinstone Road station
Soil testing reports are positive and work of erecting piers to start soon
The Indian Army has expedited the work of constructing a new foot-overbridge (FOB) at Elphinstone Road station by submitting the soil test report to begin the construction work. The soil testing reports are positive and the work of erecting piers for an additional FOB at the station is set to begin.
The Army has planned to construct an additional FOB of 10 metre wide at Elphinstone Road station. This bridge would be constructed between the north FOB of Parel station and would lead to the flower market situated at Elphinstone Road side.
The Western Railways has provided an advance amount of Rs 50 lakh to the Army for constructing the additional bridge.
“We are conducting meetings with the co-ordinating officer of the army in order to expedite the work of constructing the bridges,” said Mukul Jain, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) of Western Railways.
The other works which include demolishing the existing ticket booking office on the Elphinstone Road FOB has also been initiated.
“The plan is to use the space for landing at the west of Elphinstone Road bridge after the demolition of the booking office. This will help to avoid over-crowding on the bridge,” said a Western Railway official.
The Army troops would be constructing similar bridges at Ambivali station and Currey Road station on the Central Railway.
These works would be completed by January 2018.
This engineering team from the Indian Army are known to conduct civil works which include constructing residential and Army quarters across the country.
“These troops are experts in constructing bridges using ‘standard modular girders technology’ for building foot-over-bridge to complete the works as per the scheduled deadline,” added Jain.
Since September onwards, a team comprising of Bombay Engineering Group (BEG) from Indian Army, Western and Central Railway have been assessing and working out for building bridges at railway stations at the earliest.
An additional 12 metre wide bridge is also being constructed by western railways.
The work for the same has also been initiated. The total cost of constructing this bridge has been estimated at Rs 16 crore.