Central Railway (CR) will be saving the heritage plaques on the Elphinstone bridge that is soon to be demolished. The century old plaques dating 1913 and 1911 are embedded on the bridge, one in stone and other on the iron parts.
“We are grateful to the Railways for taking this step in the right direction as these bridges have been a part of the city for more than a generation and have witnessed its growth in the last century,” researcher Ramchandra Venkatesh said.
The plaque on the bridge’s iron railing
While the stone plaque reads GIPR, Parel Bridge, 1913, Contractor Bomanji Rustomji, the small metal seals on the girders state—‘P&W Maclellan Limited Clutha Works GIPR Glasgow 1911, where GIPR stands for the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, now called Central railway, that ran the first train between Bombay and Thane.
The authorities are now about to demolish the existing old bridge. It is being replaced by a two-deck bridge with the lower deck retaining the east-west connectivity and the upper deck connecting it to the Sewri Nhava Sheva Atal Setu.
The MMRDA has proposed constructing a 4.5-km elevated road to allow vehicles coming from Atal Setu to go directly to Worli and from there to south Mumbai and Bandra in either direction.
The work on railway lines is to be executed by the Maharashtra Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (MahaRail or MRIDC). Over the rail lines, a two-storey bridge will come up.
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