Demolition of Carnac bridge begins; work likely to take 3 months: Official

The demolition of the British-era Carnac Bridge located between CSMT and Masjid stations in south Mumbai has begun, with Central Railway officials on Saturday stating that work of completely razing it could take around three months.

The bridge was built in 1866-67 and was declared unsafe by an expert team of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) in 2018, though the movement of heavy vehicles on it was stopped in 2014 itself, officials said.

"The work of removing the top cement concrete layer began on Friday. The dismantling of the parapet, vertical columns and concrete of the corroded trough will follow," the CR official said.

"Since the bridge runs over the tracks that see heavy suburban train traffic, we will carry out the demolition-dismantling work during night. We will also carry out the work during mega blocks (period when train movement is halted) operated on Sunday for routine maintenance," he added.

He said a mega block of 30 hours is planned to remove the girder of the bridge, complete the demolition and then cart away the entire steel structure using cranes.

The demolition of the entire bridge, which is a vital east-west link in south Mumbai, is likely to take three months, the CR official said.

The bridge was closed for all kinds of traffic last month following a meeting of railway, traffic police and civic officials, who took into consideration widespread cracks and corrosion on the structure.