Footbridge in Tiruchi railway station to become a reality

Rs. 2 crore allocated for the 150-metre steel structure that will connect all the platforms

A NARROW EXIT: The subway at Tiruchi Junction railway station gets congested during peakhours putting commuters to hardship. Photo: A. Muralitharan

Tiruchirapalli Junction railway station will have a footbridge in due course with the railways sanctioning funds.

The Ministry of Railways has granted Rs. 2 crore out of the project cost of Rs. 4 crore for the establishment of the footbridge. The construction wing of the Southern Railway has been entrusted with the task of executing the project.

Railway sources here told

The Hindu that the drawings for the bridge were in the finishing stage. The works were expected to commence in two or three months and would take a year for completion.

The end-to-end footbridge to be made of steel will be 150 metres long connecting all the seven platforms besides the Kallukuzhi side which is the second entry for Tiruchi Junction. The facility will come up near the parcel office a few metres from the station’s main entrance close to which an additional entry with a bus stop is to come up soon.

The footbridge will cross over 12 broad gauge electrified tracks, including stabling lines. Tiruchi Junction has only a subway connecting all the seven platforms at present. The footbridge will be an additional facility for the commuters, say the sources.

The bridge will be designed in such a way that an escalator can be fitted with it without making any modifications.Handling 50 passenger trains every day, the Tiruchirapalli Junction railway station has been witness to steady rise in passenger traffic over the years. The density of passengers in the station is at its highest at night causing congestion in the subway.

The bridge is being built to solve this problem.

The bridge will be an alternative to the subway for travellers to enter or exit the station either to the main entrance side or towards the Kallukuzhi entry from the platforms.