Despite ‘speedy’ progress as claimed by the metro rail authorities and having cleared two major legal hurdles at Nampally and Secunderabad, crossing the railway lines is certainly going to test even their revised deadline of completing most sections by 2017-end.
Although top metro rail officials have made presentations to the senior South Central Railway (SCR) officials, the latter have been insisting on ‘hefty traffic block charges’ for halting rail movement at fixed midnight hours to allow the metro viaduct to be built over the railway lines at the remaining six designated sites.
Two railway crossovers at Bharatnagar (corridor one - Miyapur to L.B. Nagar) and Chilkalguda (corridor three - Nagole to Hi-Tec city/Raidurg) were completed without paying any such fee after the Railway Minister, Suresh Prabhu, intervened and waived it off during his visit last year.
“The demand was raised again this year. We don’t mind paying as we have already paid Rs. 69 crore for building the viaduct using the railway airspace, but what they are asking is more than the cost of the bridges!” say senior metro rail officials.
“The Railways has put traffic block charges at about Rs. 100 crore whereas each railway crossing costs about Rs. 5 to Rs. 8 crore and it will take anywhere from six to eight months to complete the work as we will be allowed just a few hours each day,” they explain.
While work on crossing the railway line at Alugadda Bhavi on corridor three is at an advanced stage and halfway through at Malakpet on corridor one, the bridges/viaduct construction is yet to commence at Oliphanta, Bhoiguda (steel bridges) Begumpet and Lakidikapul pending permissions.
The government has sought Mr. Prabhu’s help again with Municipal Administration Minister K.T. Rama Rao dashing a letter off complaining that the Railway Board has ‘re-imposed’ the traffic block charges bringing the rail crossovers’ work of the world’s biggest public, private partnership mega project to a grinding halt.
Mr. Rao urged the Minister to direct the SCR to allow RoB works to continue “as decided by the Union Cabinet” pending a final resolution of the issues/disputes. “We are negotiating with the railway officials,” maintains HMR MD N.V.S. Reddy, when contacted.
