Hyderabad, April 26: It’s the season for building road over bridges and road under bridges at various railway crossings dotting the twin cities.
With relations between South Central Railway (SCR) and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) never been warmer pending ROBs and RUBs have got a fresh lease of life. And new projects too are taking shape like the proposal to have a ROB or RUB at Tukaram Gate.
Located between Secunderabad railway station and Lalaguda station (in fact, the latter is just few metres away), the railway crossing has become a traffic bottleneck with gates closed for most of the time to allow trains – expresses, goods and local trains to move.
With Mayor B. Kartika Reddy seeking a solution for the cramped crossover, municipal engineers got their technical consultant, Stup Consultants, to do a feasibility study.
The agency has given a report stating that the best option was to go for an RUB at the site.
“If we go for a ROB, one of the arms will reach the existing old ROB near the railway quarters connecting the road towards Malkajgiri. Hence, it was observed that building a RUB was better,” explained Srinivasa Rao, Executive Engineer.
The level crossing connects Marredpally and Malkajgiri without the need to touch Mettuguda.
It also offers an alternative to commuters wanting to avoid the busy Tarnaka to Sangeet road. Of course, the dampener is when the gates close for a considerable time it is utter chaos as vehicles pile up on both sides during peak hours.
At times, such is the rush to cross over during morning and evening peak hours that time is not sufficient for all vehicles to cross before the gate is closed for yet another train as approach roads on either side are pretty narrow.
Engineering-in-chief P. Panduranga Rao said the consultant report has been submitted to railway authorities and once they clear the project, the General Arrangement Drawing (GAD) plans would also be given. Cost estimates and details of properties acquisition would be based on the railway plans, he added.
-Agencies