Residents seek road overbridge to stay away with the Villivakkam railway station east level crossing

They have planned a protest on September 18. The railway crossing has proved to be quite risky for two-wheelers and four-wheelers. Commuters complain that they are made to wait every five minutes as there are 400 trains plying on this route from dawn to midnight.

"It has become extremely dangerous for us to cross the railway crossing as there is no proper signal apart from a gate," said K.C. John, an employee at the nearby private hospital.

Resident welfare association allege that the inability of corporation and political differences have led to the current situation. The left side of the gate is Kolathur constituency, which comes under opposition party, and the right side is Villivakkam, under the ruling party.

"Railways has already procured the land and sanctioned the amount. It is now up to the corporation to remove encroachments, procure the land and build the ROB on an emergency basis," said A.V. Surendran, chairman, Welfare Association Rajaji Nagar Civic Exnora. As per railway norms, if a train vehicular unit is over 1 lakh, the level crossing should be converted to ROB.

The Villivakkam LC-1 has already crossed this mark in 2004 and has now reached 30 lakh. A senior railway official, when contacted, said railways is ready to start the work anytime once the corporation gives the nod.