Eastern Railway reviewing its foot over bridges

Kolkata: In a bid to ensure the commuters' safety and security, Eastern Railway is "reviewing" the foot-over bridges under its jurisdiction following the Mumbai stampede tragedy, an official said. "We are currently reviewing all the foot over bridges. We are checking the stability and strength of these over bridges. Also the average footfall on those bridges is being monitored," said Eastern Railway's Chief Public Relation Officer Ravi Mahapatra. Altogether 23 commuters were crushed to death and another 39 injured in a foot over bridge stampede at Elphinstone Road station on the Western Railway in Mumbai on September 29. However, West Bengal Railyatri Samity's Joint Secretary Swapan Bharati alleged that the authorities had not pay any attention to their complaints regarding the condition of foot over bridges. "Nearly, 60 percent of the rail over bridges here are unusable. But we wrote letters to the concerned railway authorities about this. They came up with excuses like there were not enough funds for repair work and claimed the bridges are not frequently used by the passengers. As a result, the over bridges are left in a careless way," he said.