Hours after a massive stampede on the foot overbridge (FOB) connecting the Parel and Elphinstone Road Railway stations claimed 22 lives and left 39 others injured, the Western Railway on Friday stated that “there was no structural damage in the FOB which can be attributed to the stampede”.

Reacting to reports in a section of the media that some commuters heard a thud like sound suggesting weakening or severing of a portion on the FOB, the Western Railway stated: “There was no structural damage to the FOB which can be attributed to the stampede. The FOB is 5 mtrs wide and 32 mtrs long having dual exits i.e. North & South at the place of incident (each exit of 2.1 mtrs, total both exit  is 4.2 mtrs.). Western Railway carries out detailed safety audit of all steel structures including FOBs at least twice in a year”.

“It (Western Railway) has a dedicated bridge department headed by Chief Bridge Engineer which carries out structural check of these structures and maintains a detailed record,” the release added.

In its release issued after Railway Minister Piyush Goyal held an emergency meeting with senior Railway officials on the Mumbai suburban railway issues, the Western Railway attributed the stampede to the sudden thunder showers.  

“It seems that due to sudden thunder shower-type rains, a stampede like situation arose on the north side FOB connecting Elphinstone Road and Parel stations at about 10.30 am on Friday,” the release said.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, who met the injured commuters at the KEM Hospital, has ordered a high-level inquiry to be headed by the Chief Safety Officer of Western Railway.

At the meeting he held with the senior railway officials later in the evening, the Minister instructed the officials to conduct a multidisciplinary Audit at all suburban railway stations within one week and  “identify” the areas of concern, to compete the ongoing works on FOBs on a war-footing, plan additional FOBs at stations where passenger traffic is high, draw up for all Mumbai suburban stations to upgrade electronic surveillance (CCTV) system in a time bound manner and take up all pending issues with other agencies like BMC, MMRDA, CIDCO, State Government, etc and resolve them in a week’s time.

Goyal and his predecessor Suresh Prabhu had earlier in the day come in for severe criticism from the leaders of various political parties, including the ruling Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP. The leaders from the three parties had demanded Goyal’s resignation.

In the same release, the Western Railway indirectly dismissed allegation of the Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale that Prabhu had expressed his inability to widen the FoB on which the mishap took place on Friday on the grounds of paucity of funds.

“There is no dearth of funds for safety related works. A new 12 mtr long FOB at the north end parallel to this bridge has already been sanctioned at a cost of Rs 6.75 crore connecting Western Railway & Central Railway along with East-West connectivity. The platforms at Elphinstone Road station is also planned to be extended along with construction of this FOB. Tender have already been floated,” the WR release said.

According to WR, former Railway Minister Prabhu had given in principle approval for the construction of additional 12 mtr wide FOB at Elphinstone Road and after that the work started expeditiously.

The Western Railway said that For commuters’ safety, several measures have been undertaken in recent past. 128 Nos of platforms have already been raised to reduce the gap between the trains and platforms. All platforms are targeted to be completed by December, 2017.

“There are total 109 FOBs and 11 Subways on Churchgate – Virar section while 14 more are under construction. 35 escalators have been provided and 30 more are being provided in phased manner, “ the release said.