Mumbai bridge collapsed 7 months after audit

the Gokhale over-bridge at Andheri railway station in Mumbai collapsed today, prompting the Railway Ministry to order a probe into it.

Railway minister Piyush Goyal has asked the Commissioner of Railway Safety, Western Circle, to conduct an inquiry into the incident and submit his report within 15 days.

A part of the 47-year-old over- bridge collapsed during heavy rains, disrupting train services, injuring five people.

Goyal said that during the next six months, a joint safety audit will be conducted by the Railways, the Brihamumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, at the 445 road over-bridges, foot over-bridges and bridges over pipelines in Mumbai as part of efforts to improve safety for the commuters.

An audit of this particular bridge was conducted in November 2017, Goyal said, while a spokesperson of Western Railway told that “no structural flaw was found in the audit”.

The structure was one of the 2,000 bridges and 550 ROBs that were thoroughly inspected last year, railway officials said.