Mumbai, (The Hindu): Commuters at Andheri railway station can look forward to three new foot overbridges (FOB) which will greatly reduce the load on the existing ones. The station at present has three FOBs, of which only two connect all platforms.

The Western Railway (WR) will be building a FOB connecting platform 8 and 9, which serves long-distance passenger trains and Andheri-Virar locals. The platforms have only two FOBs, both towards the northern half of the platforms, and also have very narrow staircases, which often leads to overcrowding. Passengers can also use the new bridge to reach platform 6 and 7, and the FOB will have exits on both east and west.

“The FOB, which is being constructed, will provide relief to commuters and ease the rush on the two platforms and provide a vital east-west connectivity. We plan to complete the bridge by mid of next year,” chief public relations officer Ravinder Bhakar said. The 81-metre-long bridge will cross all the tracks, and will cost around Rs 9.44 crore.

The two other FOBs are being built by the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC). One is 10-metre wide which is coming up in lieu of the middle FOB at Andheri station. The other one is being built towards the northern end of platform 8 and 9 as part for the mid-section trespass project, which comes under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project 3. The latter is being executed with the objective to reduce the number of people crossing tracks from the nearby settlement in the east.

The existing middle FOB will be dismantled once the new one is constructed, which will be connected to the deck on the west and to the existing connector between the north and the middle FOB in the east.

“We aim to complete the middle FOB by December 2019. While the tender for the FOB on platform 8 and 9 has just been awarded, we will try to complete them by 2019,” Sanjay Singh, spokesperson, MRVC, said.