Following Sunday’s visit of Thiruvananthapuram Divisional Railway Manager Sunil Bajpai, the state of affairs at the Edappally railway station might change.
He has apparently asked senior officials to probe how land can be acquired for extending the foot overbridge to either side of the tracks. The structure now covers just four of the seven tracks, with the result that people have to cross rest of the tracks to reach Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS).
In the absence of an over-the-tracks overbridge, some walk through all the seven tracks leading to injuries. They also have to sometimes crawl beneath goods trains parked at the station. The proposal for a bridge at Ponekkara is hanging fire, despite Southern Railway inviting tenders for constructing the bridge’s span over railway lines, said K.A. Francis of Ernakulam District Residents Associations’ Apex Council (EDRAAC), who has been spearheading a campaign for Ponekkara bridge.
In a related development, Mr Bajpai has asked Railway officials to take a decision within a month on linking roads on either side of the station, to ensure proper road connectivity to the station. AIMS is learnt to have offered to sponsor chairs and other passenger amenities at the platform.
