Central Railway finalises Rs 3 crore foot-overbridge tender in 24 hours

Apparently spurred into cutting red-tape by the recent stampede at Elphinstone Road station, the Central Railways (CR) has managed to award a tender for the construction of a foot-overbridge (FOB) within 24 hours. This new FOB, estimated to cost Rs 2.97 crore, will come up at the CST-end of Kurla Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT), from where long-distance trains originate. CR officials said work on the FOB began yesterday.

"The CR has created a record in finalising a tender in 24 hours for a new foot overbridge at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus," Chief PRO Sunil Udasi said. "The tender for the construction of this FOB opened on November 14 and was finalised on the same day. The acceptance letter was issued and physically handed over to the contractor
immediately," Udasi added.

Udasi informed that work on the FOB commenced from November 16 and it was likely to be completed within six months. Giving details of the FOB, Udasi said the bridge would be 6-meter wide and connect all five platforms at Kurla LTT. Twenty-three people were killed in a stampede that occurred on a narrow bridge that connects Elphinstone Road station on the Western Railway with Parel on the Central Railway in September-end.