7 foot overbridges unsafe, finds Railways audit

While Southern Railways has ordered a review of all foot over bridges (FOBs) in the zone in the aftermath of over 20 people dying in a stampede at Elphinstone station in Mumbai recently, railway managers had already identified at least a dozen vulnerable FOBs in Chennai division alone even before the audit was ordered.

Senior officials who admitted to receiving instructions to this effect from New Delhi told DTNext that a fresh audit of all foot over bridges in the zone has started, mainly in Chennai division, where, like in Mumbai, electric multiple units (EMUs) were the lifeline of commuters, carrying roughly 1.2 million people daily in the state capital. “The works of the 17 FOBs identified earlier are at different stages. We will do a fresh review. If we come across stations requiring repair or replacement or construction of new FOBs, we will take up the work,” a highly-placed official said.

Significantly, a few railway officials claimed not to have any standard guidelines for designing or reviewing FOBs, while a few others said the Railway Board guidelines stipulate that foot over bridges must be six metres wide (earlier it was four). An officer disclosed that they recently identified a few suburban stations in the city where FOB width was much less than the stipulated six metres. Worse, some FOBs were in high footfall category stations. 

When asked, Naveen Gulati, railway manager, Chennai Division, said the number of FOBs and their size would be determined based on the requirement of the station. FOBs fall within the safety category as commuters cannot be allowed to cross tracks and hence a minimum of one FOB per station. If any station was found to require more, it would be provided, he added.