Ahmedabad city will get 11 new underpasses at railway crossings between Sabarmati and Sarkhej. These will come up with an investment of Rs 39.81 crore. The proposal was among a host of proposals discussed and approved during the meeting of Roads and Buildings Committee of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).
The work on guage conversion along Ahmedabad – Botad route has been going on. As a part of it, railway and municipal authorities had decided that all the railway crossings be eliminated and instead be replaced with underpasses. A survey had been conducted and it was decided to construct 11 underpasses at various locations along the Sabarmati – Sarkhej belt.
"Four underpasses will be constructed by Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL). For the remaining seven underpasses, civil work related to construction of RCC boxes, the segment of approach road falling under the land owned by Railways, sump house or pump house will be carried out by RVNL. While the works in the segment of land owned by AMC will be done by AMC. For this, the civic body has earmarked Rs 39,81,13,285," said Ramesh Desai, chairman of Roads and Buildings Committee of AMC.
The projects are also a part of the initiative of state government to get rid of all railway crossings and instead replace them with underpasses and flyover bridges. "When the gauge conversion is finished, frequency of trains will increase and it would not be favourable for the vehicular traffic in the city to remain halted at the railway crossings. So it was decided to have underpasses at these locations," said the document.