The design of the railway over bridge (ROB) in Bhopal’s Aishbagh area, which is now under investigation for a peculiar 90-degree turn, was altered three times over the past seven years as the Public Works Department and the Railways found themselves at odds, The Indian Express has learnt.

Senior PWD members told The Indian Express that the investigation report is ready, with a senior official confirming, “The design was changed thrice. This is part of our preliminary findings, apart from other issues which were flagged.”

On Saturday, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said that “based on the inquiry report, action has been taken against eight engineers of the PWD.”

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“Seven engineers, including two chief engineers, have been suspended with immediate effect. A departmental inquiry will be conducted against a retired sub-engineer. Both the construction agency and the design consultant have been blacklisted for submitting faulty design of the ROB,” Yadav said.

Official records indicate that the first design was confirmed on July 7, 2018, when engineers from the Railways and Madhya Pradesh PWD jointly inspected the site. The team concluded that the proposed ROB would require a 45-degree skew to match the road alignment.

“The railway span shall be 45-degree skew to suit the alignment. The span will be constructed within Railway boundary. The approaches on both sides will be built by PWD,” reads the report filed by the then Executive Engineer (Bridge).

PWD internal records, however, noted: “Since the entire construction was to take place on railway land, the Railway department expressed its disagreement. Consequently, the PWD halted the tender process at that time.”

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By September 2020, a second design was executed, when the PWD and Railways carried out a joint inspection and prepared a new alignment, this time keeping in mind the upcoming Metro Rail line that would pass through the area.

“In this new alignment proposal, keeping in mind the Metro Rail alignment, and with mutual consent between the PWD and the Railway Department, a new General Arrangement Drawing (GAD) was prepared based on the construction of RCC circular piers,” the PWD note stated. The Metro Rail Corporation also issued another no-objection certificate.

However, in 2023, the PWD noted: “Prior to the implementation of the project, discrepancies in the Railway Department’s GAD were communicated to them through various letters.” The PWD also claimed in its internal records, “The Railway department made no changes to its drawing and carried out the construction with the incorrect location and conditions. As a result, due to the Railway’s error, the PWD’s alignment began encroaching toward the Metro’s alignment.”

Following this, a third design change was implemented, when the PWD “prepared a revised GAD in which an additional pier was constructed behind Railway Pier, and the PWD slab was supported on this additional pier and connected to the Railway slab.”

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According to the revised GAD, the alignment of the Metro Rail “will remain as before, and all three executing agencies, namely the PWD, Metro Rail Project, and Railways, will be able to carry out their construction work within their previously approved financial limits and on the previously agreed alignments.”

The Railway department has, on the other hand, alleged that even before the PWD flagged the issues, Railways had sent a letter on April 4, 2024, apprising the department portions of the bridge constructed by the PWD and Railways are “meeting almost at right angle, which is neither fulfilling the functional requirement nor safe for road users.”

The 648-metre bridge in the Aishbagh area, which cost Rs 18 crore to build, was meant to eliminate long delays at railway crossings and shorten the commute for nearly three lakh people daily.