With Commissioner of Railway Safety, Southern Circle, S.K. Mittal sanctioning the ‘lifting’ of the First Railway Overbridge here, the bridge will be closed to traffic once again from Sunday.
It was only Thursday last that the bridge was reopened after it was closed down from March 20 to May 13 for lifting in connection with the electrification of the Mangalore-Shoranur railway line. The bridge, which is more than a century old, is not high enough to put up electric poles underneath and hence, the lifting. A part of the approach road to the bridge was dismantled to facilitate the work. However, the work could not be taken up as the Railway authorities failed to get the Safety Commissioner’s sanction.
There were widespread protests against keeping the bridge closed indefinitely, and on the intervention of the Kozhikode Corporation, it was reopened Thursday last.
The Safety Commissioner had rejected the proposal for lifting the bridge thrice owing to technical error in the proposal. Later, the proposal was accepted on the condition that the work be finished by July 15, and the bridge be opened to traffic as early as possible.
The overbridge, which connects the Railway station road to Valiyangadi, is always busy with traffic, and the public was put to much hardship when it was closed. Hence, when officials from the electrical section of Railways met here on Tuesday requesting that it be closed once again, Mayor A.K. Premajam demanded that Railways make an alternative arrangement.
“We have proposed to Railways to open an alternative route through the Railway Colony and Francis Road, in place of the First Railway Overbridge. In fact, a memorandum to this effect has been sent to the Railway authorities,” the Mayor said.
The height of the bridge will be increased by 78 cm to enable the electric poles to be put up.
