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The dismantling of Mumbai's 112-year-old Elphinstone Road Over Bridge is progressing in carefully planned railway blocks over active tracks of Western and Central Railway. MahaRail has already removed the western span and is working on the central and eastern sections, which require precision crane operations and temporary lowering of overhead wires. The bridge will be replaced with a double-deck structure featuring a single 132-metre girder fabricated in Noida. The revised completion target has been advanced to August 2026, ahead of the earlier October timeline.
The Maharashtra Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation (MahaRail) is currently dismantling the 112-year-old Elphinstone Road Over Bridge in Mumbai, one of the city's key connectors between Lower Parel and Prabhadevi. The bridge, constructed when railway traffic was significantly lower, now stands over multiple live suburban railway lines of Western and Central Railway, making the dismantling process technically sensitive and time-bound. Advertisement
The work is being executed only during scheduled railway blocks at night to avoid disruption to suburban train services. On weekdays, blocks typically last two to three hours between the last and first local trains. On weekends, slightly longer blocks of four to six hours are available. Within these limited windows, steel deck slabs are cut into sections and lifted using two heavy-duty cranes with 800-ton capacity.
The bridge has been divided into three sections of roughly 30 metres each to enable phased removal. The western span has already been dismantled after approximately 15 to 16 railway blocks. Work has now shifted to the central and eastern spans. Officials have indicated that the central portion is the most challenging because of its length and its position between active railway lines, requiring careful coordination of crane placement and lifting sequences.
A major constraint during dismantling is the handling of overhead electric (OHE) wires. These wires need to be temporarily lowered and then restored during every railway block, which consumes a considerable portion of the available time. Officials have stated that if longer blocks are granted, productivity increases significantly. Otherwise, dismantling continues section by section within the permitted hours.
MahaRail expects the dismantling of the entire old structure to be completed by the end of February, subject to operational conditions. Once removal is complete, reconstruction of the new bridge will move at full pace.
The replacement structure is designed as a double-deck road over bridge to improve traffic capacity in the area. The key feature is a single 132-metre open web girder without intermediate piers between railway tracks. This design reduces obstruction within railway premises and enhances structural efficiency. The girder has already been fabricated in Noida and will be transported and launched once the foundations and support structures are ready.
Foundation work for the deeper piers and wider columns required for the double-deck configuration is underway. After completion of substructure work, the long-span girder will be slid into position using specialised launching techniques.
The original project deadline was October 2026. However, the timeline has now been advanced to August 2026. State authorities have also reviewed progress and directed agencies to accelerate work wherever possible. Advancing the deadline would make this one of the faster major bridge reconstructions undertaken over active suburban railway corridors in Mumbai.
Apart from Elphinstone, similar railway over bridge projects are progressing in other parts of the city. At Byculla, a new three-lane cable-stayed bridge is being constructed next to the existing four-lane bridge, which will later be demolished and rebuilt to create a six-lane facility. At Dadar, underground works have been completed and deck construction is ongoing. The Ghatkopar bridge project, extending nearly four kilometres, is also under execution and will require a longer timeline due to its scale.
These projects form part of a broader effort to modernise ageing transport infrastructure in Mumbai while maintaining uninterrupted railway operations.
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