Hyderabad: Work on the remaining six rail overbridges has to be speeded up to put Metro Rail on the fast track. For the last six months, work on the rail overbridges has been slow due to ‘traffic block charges’ and technical aspects.
The most contentious issue for the Railways is managing their traffic and blocking it for a few hours so that the overbridge work can be carried out.
On the Bharatnagar overbridge, trains were blocked two days in a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, for three hours. The blocking was carried out 14 times for one bridge.
According to sources in Larsen & Toubro, the company executing the project, “Each bridge will require blocking trains 14 times. It requires a lot of meticulous planning by both the Railways and the engineering team of the company. We can’t afford to waste time. A lot of back-end planning has to be done.”
As the steel structures are going to run completely over the tracks, and there will be no pillars in the middle, the engineering has to be of a very high quality, explained sources.
These details regarding the six overbridges were discussed at a recent meeting between the railway authorities and senior officers of Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR). According to HMR, the principal chief engineer of South Central Railway, S. N. Singh, assured full cooperation to complete the work.
Said a senior L&T officer, “The work of erecting pillars on state government land outside the Railways’ (jurisdiction) has been completed. We now need to speed up the work to put the project on fast track.”
With managing director of Hyderabad Metro Rail, N. V. S. Reddy, announcing that the Nagole to Mettuguda and Miyapur to SR Nagar stretches of the Metro will start in 2017, there is anticipation among commuters. Mr Reddy said, “We are trying to complete the work in Secunder-abad so that the service can be extended to Begumpet.”
State government nod necessary for launch
While the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) has announced that the metro rail project will be launched on Ugadi 2017, a review of the project carried out by the state government is pending and will determine the actual date.
HMR managing director N. V. S. Reddy says the rail overbridges have to be completed “and if there are some problems, then the Metro Rail will be started on June 2, Telangana Formation Day.”
One of the major hurdles to the project — the demolition of Padma Hamsa Apartments near Secunderabad — has been cleared, so it’s a smooth run till Begumpet. Senior officials of both L&T, the company executing the over-bridge project, and HMR are optimistic that work will pick up pace and be completed soon.
According to sources, the major concern is clearing connectivity for people from Mettuguda to Secunderabad; if that is achieved, the service can be opened for the public.
