VIJAYAWADA: Passengers at Vijayawada Railway Station might soon find it easy to move between platforms as construction of a foot over bridge (FOB) connecting platform one with 10 is progressing at a brisk pace.
The project began in January 2019 at a cost of `12.05 crore and works are likely to be completed before summer.
According to South Central Railway (SCR) officials, Vijayawada railway station is an important junction in the division connecting Howrah to Chennai and New Delhi to Chennai main lines.Three FOBs are available in the station as of now. Among them, two connect platform 1 to 10, one connects platform 1 to 7 and another one links both sides of the station i.e the east side and Wynchipet Colony on the west.
Over the years, passenger footfall at the station has increased gradually and it had crossed 50 million passengers last year.
‘’Earlier, a FOB connected platform one with seven. As passenger footfall at the station doubled over the years, the existing FOBs have become narrow and it has become a tough task for the passengers to move especially during peak hours of the day and festive seasons.
Considering the plight of the passengers, the higher officials of the railway department have decided to construct an FOB connecting platform one with 10 and works in this regard are progressing fast,’’ a senior Vijayawada division railway official told TNIE.
“The project was supposed to be completed by December 2019. However, the works were delayed and is set to completed by summer this year. Once the FOB is built, passengers can easily catch a bus after getting out of the station,” he added.