Engineers of the South Central Railway (SCR) have created a record of sorts by constructing a Pedestrian Underpass (PUP) between Begumpet and Nature Cure Hospital suburban stations in six hours flat, using new and innovative techniques.
The work was taken up at night, under the Secunderabad-Mumbai main railway line on the road level, which regularly has several express and passenger trains pass through continuously, apart from plying of regular MMTS services.
The PUP fulfils a longstanding demand of people of nearby residential colonies, including Leelanagar and Customs basthi, located on the two sides of the track which otherwise did not have proper access unless one took a circuitous route of about five km or risked life and limb by crossing the tracks.
“The railway police used to frequently penalise those crossing the tracks to dissuade citizens from doing so, but the final solution was to build a road under bridge or a pedestrian underpass. It was decided to go for the latter so as to complete the work quickly without disturbing the rail traffic,” explained railway officials.
Therefore, after passage of last local MMTS train at 11 p.m. on Saturday night, the open cutting method was taken up by digging beneath the track with excavators and two giant cranes put eight pre-cast cement boxes with two metres height, four metres width and altogether 10 metres length were installed.
During this time, the rail tracks were detached, earth excavated and the cement boxes were placed before earth filling, pouring of ballast and putting rails back making it fit for train services by “6 a.m. of Sunday”. The total cost incurred for this operation was ₹2.18 crore.
The entire project was done in coordination and funds disbursed by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation under ‘deposit work’ and after there was an agreement over the drawings of the work and the funds required for the PUP, they added.
