Close on the heels of the steps to expedite track doubling and renovation of the Kottayam railway station, a delegation of Southern Railway officials and Thomas Chazhikadan, MP, on Wednesday reviewed the progress of work on the railway overbridges (RoB) coming up in Kottayam.
During the meeting, Railways informed that work on the RoB at Mulanthuruthy had been completed as early as 2018 while work on the bridge at Carithas was on the final stages. The authorities are now awaiting nod from the Railway Safety Commissioner to carry out the remaining work on these two RoBs.
In view of the lack of response to the tenders for constructing the approach roads to these flyovers, Mr. Chazhikadan directed the officials to open the next round of tender on February 2 so as to complete the process by February 15.
ADVERTISEMENT
Land acquisition
The meeting also decided to expedite acquisition of land for the Kuruppanthara RoB. The Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK) will be tendering the works by July this year while the tendering process of Railways will be completed before November 30, 2021.
The RBDCK officials will visit the Railway Chief Engineer’s office this week to expedite the approval of the General Arrangement Drawing (GAD) of the Kaduthuruthy flyover. The land acquisition process will be completed before January 31, 2022 and the tender process will begin soon afterwards.
ADVERTISEMENT
The RBDCK had sent the GAD of the Kurikkad (Chottanikkara) flyover to Railways for approval by March 2019. A team of officials from the agency will now be approaching Railways seeking clarification on the matter and the land acquisition process for the project will be completed before March 31, 2021.
The GAD of the RoB coming up at Kothanallur received approval in October 2019. Steps will be initiated to expedite the acquisition of land in coordination with the Pala tahsildar and the Kerala Rail Development Corporation.
Other RoBs
The RoBs coming at Manjoor, Rubber Board, Muttambalam and Pakkil will be opened for traffic along with the completion of the track-doubling works by December this year.
Shaji Zachariah, Railway Chief Engineer Construction, Deputy Chief Engineer Chacko George and RBDCK Managing Director Jafar Malik were present.