Engineers from the Indian Army have started work on three foot-overbridges (FOBs) at suburban stations in Mumbai after the Railways gave necessary approvals, a senior official said today.

The official said the permission from the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) for the FOB at Elphinstone Road was expected “any moment”.

He said the General Arrangement Drawing (GAD) of the Elphinstone Road FOB was submitted by the Army engineers yesterday.

The Railways and Army have jointly set January 31, 2018 as the deadline to construct the three FOBs, including the one at Elphinstone Road, where 23 people were killed in a stampede on September 29.

The under-construction bridge at Elphinstone is an extension of the current north-end FOB at Parel station and will land at the west side of the Elphinstone Road station. It is estimated to cost Rs 11 crore, officials said.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had visited the Elphinstone Road station a few weeks ago and announced the January 31 deadline for completing the three FOBs.

A six-year-old boy and his father were among three passengers who killed after 13 coaches of Vasco Da Gama-Patna Express derailed near Manikpur Railway Station in Uttar Pradesh on Friday. At least nine others have also been injured in the accident.

In the second accident of the day, 14 bogies of a coal-laden goods train derailed near Jagatsinghpur in Odisha.

There has been a spate of derailments in the recent past which has raised concerns over the safety of railway operations in the country.

Here is a list of derailments that have taken place since September:

The Ernakulam-Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Duronto Express (train number 12224) derailed in Ratnagiri in Maharashtra on October 26, 2017.

2. Three coaches of a goods train derailed on Achhnera-Mathura rail route on October 04. No casualties were reported.

3. Sixteen coaches of goods train derail near Nergundi station in Odisha in the wee hours of September 27. The accident disrupted rail traffic on the route.

4. Two coaches of a passenger train derailed in Agra on September 23. The train was moving to the yard for cleaning when the derailment took place around 4 AM.

5. The engine of a goods train jumped the tracks near Sitapur Cantt station around 7.10 am on September 19. It was the middle engine of the goods train which derailed.

6. On September 18, just a few house hours before the engine of the goods trains derailed, the Burhwl-Balamau passenger train got off the tracks around 9:40 pm.

7. The last coach of Jammu Rajdhani Express derailed at New Delhi Railway Station at 6 am on September 14. The derailment took place when the train was entering platform no 15 of New Delhi railway station.

8. A rail engine derailed at the Egmore railway station in Chennai on September 11. The incident happened on Platform number 1 when the engine proceeding to the yard derailed.

8. An empty coach of Sealdah Express derailed on September 10 at the Jammu railway station. The incident took place when an empty boggie of the Express train was being brought to the platform from the washing area.

9. The engine of Kashi Vishwanath Express derailed at the New Delhi Railway Station while going towards the yard on September 7.

10. Two wagons of a goods train derailed near Khandala on Thursday at around 3:55 pm on September 8.

11. On the same day, seven coaches of Jabalpur-bound Shaktipunj Express jumped the tracks near the Obra Dam station in the Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh.

12. There was a third accident on the same day when the engine and power car of the Ranchi-Delhi Rajdhani Express derailed near Minto Bridge as it was approaching the Delhi station.

13. Seven coaches of Howrah-Jabalpur-Shaptipunj Express derailed at Obra near Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh on September 7. The train was running at a speed of about 40 km/hr when the derailment took place.

14. One wagon of a goods train derailed near a level crossing in Odisha’s Cuttack on September 3. The train was proceeding towards goods shed at Cuttack railway station around noon when the derailment happened.

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First year of training – 70 percent of minimum wage of semi-skilled workers notified by the respective State or Union Territory.

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Although Indian Railways and the Army are providing an extension to the existing foot overbridge (FOB) connecting Parel with Elphinstone Road, the authorities have now realised that the exit point of the new FOB is too narrow. This is despite the Army tweaking the designs of the FOB that is being extended from the Parel-end. On Monday, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal along with his staff, Army personnel headed by Brigadier D Mohan, and BMC officials inspected the work on the new FOB.

The new design shall be z-shaped with the longest pathway being 250 meters long passing over 11 rail lines. “The girders are already on their way from the Indo-China border,” said an Army officer on condition of anonymity.

The piers for this FOB will go 9-metres deep. “I am sure that work on Elphinstone Road FOB will complete before time. At Currey Road, there are some issues pertaining to private land which will be sorted within 2-3 days,” said Goyal.

Goyal asked his officers and those from BMC to inspect the outlet of the FOB as he felt that there is insufficient space for people to walk after getting down from the bridge. The staircase leads to the Dadar flower market where the exit lane is barely 4-6 feet wide. The lane further narrows down right next to Sunshine Tower where it is barely accommodates people now. The exit on to the road has been blocked by the flower vendors. There is a small right that leads to the entrance of the flower market, which is already congested inside.

“We will have to sit down and check our drawing to come out with a solution for creating wider exits,” said Vijay Singhal, Additional Municipal Commissioner, BMC.

There is a dilapidated building that was used as flower market which now lies more or less empty.

While the Indian Railways, Army and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) are struggling to acquire 180 sq metres of land for constructing a foot overbridge (FOB) at Currey Road station, there is a bigger safety problem that the Central Railway (CR) is grappling with. The problem came to notice on Monday when Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal visited Currey Road station to inspect the work on the FOB.

Over the past few months, the CR authorities began constructing the second FOB at Currey Road station and in the past few weeks they have built the staircases on both sides of the platform. The work on the elevated portion of the FOB that extends on the east till the platform, too has been started. They painted this structure in silver, but put granite tiles on the stairs just a couple of days before Goyal was to visit the station.

There are two landings — one towards Dadar and the other towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus — where the staircases are there. However, there is an issue with the landing of the staircase towards the CSMT-end as they end straight on to a cemented and tiled seat. This has a metal pole holding the roof and people often sit there while waiting for the train. The gap is barely of 3-4 feet, which is insufficient considering the huge number of commuters.

“We have examined this and it is an additional landing. We are finding out solutions keeping in view the requirement of cover over platforms for the passengers,” said SK Jain, Divisional Railway Manager (Mumbai), Central Railway.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has stressed on ensuring safety of commuters at railway stations and its premises. Even the multi-disciplinary audit team in its report has stated the need to remove all obstructions near the landing of FOBs across the suburban stations in Mumbai.

A vegetable vendor, who was missing since Friday, has returned home covering 90 km on foot along the railway track from New Bongaigaon station in Assam after allegedly being drugged and robbed.

Jebil Sangma kept on walking for three days, fed on leftovers from dustbins at various stations and lost consciousness after reaching his village.
“Jebil Sangma returned home yesterday night. He is very weak because of the tiring walk. He is in hospital,” acting SP of North Garo Hills district Jerry Marak said.

However, Mr Jebil’s friend, who had accompanied him to Assam from their Lower Beomedang village, cannot be traced. The acting SP said his friend Kalmen’s mobile phone was last traced at Guwahati and efforts are on to find him.

Mr Jebil told his family that he had been offered a spiked soft drink by a rickshaw puller and he lost consciousness after having it at a market in Guwahati on Friday evening.

The rickshaw puller took Mr Jebil and Mr Kalmen f

from Guwahati station to the market during the day but did not accept the fare then.

He had said he would return in the evening, help them sell off the remaining vegetables, take them back to the station and take the fare, Mr Jebil’s family members said.

When the rickshaw puller returned in the evening, there were some unsold vegetables and he called up a friend who was supposed to be a wholesaler.

However, the ‘wholesaler’ refused to buy the vegetables but agreed to store them. During their way to the store, Mr Jebil and his friend were offered the spiked soft drink, his family members said.

When he woke up at New Bongaigaon station, he found his money and mobile phone were missing and Mr Kalmen was nowhere to be seen.

Mr Jebil had tried to take a bus home but failed since he did not have any money.

While he still managed to return home, Mr Kalmen’s whereabouts are not yet known and a police complaint was lodged.