Mumbai: Three months after stampede, foot overbridge at Elphinstone Road railway station widened
Work on construction of two more foot overbridges, one by the Western Railways and another by the Army, is also underway.
A little over three months after 23 people died in a stampede on a foot overbridge between Mumbai’s Elphinstone Road and Parel railway stations, the Western Railway has widened the structure.
The extended landing, which was opened to the public on Monday, is expected to ease the daily commute for passengers, the Hindustan Times reported. The landing was widened by about 2 metres after demolishing a ticket window.
The Western Railway began work on the landing in November 2017, and has spent Rs 17 lakh on it, the Hindustan Times reported. Railway sources told the newspaper that the extension took longer than expected because the ticket window that had to be demolished was close to high-tension power lines.
Work to construct two more foot overbridges is on – the Western Railways is building one and the Army, the other.
Soon after the September 29, 2017, stampede that killed 23 people and injured nearly 40, the Army was asked to construct foot overbridges at three railway stations in Mumbai. The decision taken by the Centre and the Maharashtra government to entrust the Army with the construction work was met with immense criticism.