A railway gatekeeper closes the gate at a level crossing. (Image- Joe Ravi via Wikimedia Commons)The South Western Railways’s (SWR) Bengaluru division has announced the proposal of construction of Rail Overbridges (ROB) on the Baiyappanahalli to Hosur Railway section, reports The New Indian Express. The construction of these bridges is a joint project of the SWR alongside the Karnataka Government.
The proposed project needs elimination of 15 manned level crossings which will amount to Rs 402.21 crore. A sharing of costs proposed between them sees the Government pay Rs 255.12 crore and Rs 147.39 crore by the Railways. The construction of these overbridges is happening as the manned level crossings are usually closed for a considerable amount of time, leading to congestion of road traffic and inconvenience, harassment to road users.
Construction of Road over Bridges (ROB) is proposed as due to doubling and electrification, the frequency of trains will increase once the suburban services initiate.
The benefits of the project are that traffic will reduce significantly once the level crossings are gone. There should be lesser traffic jams of cars, buses and other road users, who currently wait for an extended amount of time while they wait for gates to open.
Transport Expert from Praja RAAG, Sanjeev Dyamannavar said, "This proposal for replacing level crossings with ROBs on this specific section is a good initiative by the DRM and will be helpful to road commuters. Since doubling is already in progress on this line, they will have to get rid of manned level crossings soon. Including the rest of the railway crossings in Bengaluru is a good development as well."
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