Perungalathur road overbridge work gets a thrust.

The demand of residents of two suburban pockets around Tambaram and suburban train commuters for constructing a road over bridge across the railway lines near Perungalathur station is likely to be fulfilled with the Kancheepuram district administration initiating steps to clear all hassles involved in acquiring land for the proposed facility.

A covenant — formal agreement is reported to have been given by the District administration to Railway authorities during a meeting on Tuesday.

The proposal to construct a road over bridge, proposed a few years ago, remained a non-starter due to delays in commencing the land acquisition process. The Railways had sent their design and their proposals to the State government for concurrence as early as May 2011.

However, the Centre has now directed the Railway authorities to initiate steps for quick execution of pending projects all over the country by coordinating with the respective State governments, sources said. Earlier, railway officials had conducted several rounds of inspections at Perungalathur station, which faced a peculiar problem. The level crossings (LCs No. 32 and 33) were on either side of the station and very close to the platform. It may be recalled that in 2011, the State Highways Department had come up with a Rs. 72 crore proposal to construct road over bridges and subways to connect either sides of railway station and connecting Perungalathur and Peerkankaranai areas with GST Road.

The proposal will help commuters like M. Saba, who find it difficult to get down as the train compartment’s entrance was placed above the level crossing and in the space between the two platforms. Welcoming the development, G. Raman, Perungalathur Town Panchayat councillor said: “The project should not be delayed further as every time gates at level crossing close, there is a massive vehicle pile-up on the Grand Southern Trunk Road till Vandalur.”

“We need a subway to be built at LC No. 33 like the one in Tambaram and we need an alternate access until the bridge work is taken up,” said R.A. Mugunthan, Treasurer of Paranur — Perungalathur Rail Commuters Association.

Hindu