KOCHI: The morning hours of Monday, the busiest day of every week, turned out be a harrowing time for commuters when not only train but also road traffic got hit badly. Due to the repair work undertaken by the Railways on the tracks towards Alappuzha from Ernakulam Junction railway station, more than three trains running in the direction got delayed by one hour. Meanwhile, closing the Vaduthala level cross gate to facilitate the repair work led to a huge road traffic bottleneck till Ayyappankavu.
According to railway officials, Mangaluru Junction-Kochuveli Antyodaya Express, Mysuru Junction (MYS)-Kochuveli (Kochuveli Express) and Guruvayur-Thiruvananthapuram Intercity Express were delayed. “Emergency track repair work had to be carried out in that section. However, the train services were restored after the repair works,” said an official. However, what made matters worse was the closing of the Vaduthala level cross gate to facilitate the repairs.
“Vehicles got stuck on the road for more than an hour. It was chaos, with buses, autorickshaws, cars and two-wheelers lining up till Ayyappankavu,” said Ramesh G, a shopkeeper. According to him, it is a regular affair here. “However, all previous records were broken today,” he said.
According to him, all these problems can be solved if the rail overbridge is built as soon as possible. “If the RoB is built, the Railways can go ahead and repair the tracks whenever they want. At least, the road traffic will not be affected,” he added.
RoB work to start soon: MP
According to Hibi Eden, MP, the work on the RoB is expected to begin soon. “Already an in-principle approval has been given by the Railways,” he said.“The delay happened after the proposal for the RoB at Vaduthala was dropped from the list of projects listed in the pink book of the Railways. However, after the matter was brought to the notice of the Railways, the project was included in the new list,” he said. Then there was the issue of the alignment in the earlier plan for the RoB. “The Railways objected to the insufficient clearance from the gate. They demanded a clearance of 13.80m from the gate. However, when it was pointed out that much space of clearance would spell trouble for a temple and also the residents of a nearby flat, since both will have to be demolished, the Railways relented. They agreed for a clearance limit of 10.20m,” he said.
According to Hibi, the revenue department will have to start the land acquisition process. “It can be seen that all projects funded by Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) gets inordinately delayed, since they have a lot of stringent procedures. The project is being carried out by Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK),” he said.
