WR to remove overhead cables from old Fobs

6TH RLY LINE Clearing wires on Borivli-mumbai Central stretch to take 6 months

MUMBAI: Western Railway (WR) will dismantle utilities and overhead cables from old foot overbridges (Fobs) in the next six months as it begins work on the sixth railway line between Mumbai Central and Borivli railway stations.

The additional load of overhead cables was mentioned as one of the factors contributing to the collapse of GK Gokhale bridge in July 2018, in which two people lost their lives, in the Commissioner of Railway Safety’s report.

Indian Railways has issued a tender to dismantle and re-route cables from old Fobs and related works in the Mumbai suburban section. “We will study and re-route maximum of the cables and utilities that are going through the bridges and that will be dismantled. They all will be relocated,” said a senior WR official. The removing and the restructuring of the cables will be completed in six months.

This is being done in connection with work on the sixth railway line in the Mumbai Division of WR, which was approved in 2008-2009. The construction of the sixth railway line was introduced in Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP)-2B and aims to give railways a separate corridor to operate outstation trains. Under MUTP-3A, WR is also working on the construction of fifth and sixth railway lines

between Borivli and Virar stations. This will further help to segregate outstation and local trains on WR’S route.

The major hurdles faced by the project include removing encroachments, acquisition of land and rehabilitation.