Work crawls on rail underpasses, traffic trauma underneath

Work crawls on rail underpasses, traffic trauma underneath
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The delays in Cantonment railway station underpass and the Madhvanagar (Seshadripuram) railway underpass works have left traffic at these spots in a mess for nearly a year now and have turned eyesores.

The two-laning of the Cantt station underpass by the Bangalore City Corporation (BCC) was stalled because the Karnataka Slum Clearance Board objected to the shifting of the Havadigara slum (on the Miller’s Road side of the rail bridge) to make way for the project.

Consequently, BCC had to hand back the acquired slum land, write to the Urban Development Principal Secretary and go through reams of paperwork before the land was returned and the work could progress.

The original cost of the project was Rs. 1.73 crore. No cost escalation can be claimed by the BCC as the works contract with Railways is based on Centre-State deposit contribution.

Now, as an afterthought, the BCC has taken up the task of adding two more box underpasses of the same dimension (2 X 6.3 X 4.3 cubic metre) to the existing two, in view of the increasing volume of traffic on the road.

The revised total cost of the four-laning is Rs. 3.36 crore. More importantly, it will result in another four to five months of agonising traffic congestion, diversion and related problems.

The Madhvanagar railway underpass delay, according to BCC engineers, is caused due to ‘‘cautioning by Railways’’. ‘‘Trains pass over the rail bridge 500 times a week.

The Railways have to synchronise the movement of all these trains, which in turn delays the BCC work underneath the bridge,’’ said a BCC engineer.

Result: Another three months of traffic woes till the second vent is completed. The original two-laning cost is Rs. 1.96 crore. BCC cannot claim any cost escalation due to delay.

The delays do not end there. Once the vents are ready, the approach roads need to regraded (compensated for the height difference) said engineers.

This involves shifting of all utilities (water pipes, telephone cables, power cables etc.) and this may take another few months after the vents are built, for BCC to open the underpasses fully to traffic.

Till then, motorists will have to suffer the inconvenience.