Kannur: Railway board has given sanction for construction of 17 overbridges at railway gates in the state. This is in addition to the 27 overbridges already approved for the Kerala rail development corporation. 

Southern railways had submitted an application for sanction of 96 flyovers of which 36 have been approved. 17 of these come under the Kerala division. Rs 701.5 crores is the estimated cost of this project.

The cost will be split equally between the state government and the railway. Although the railway has given permission, it remains unclear who will take up the job. The construction of a railway over bridge (ROB)/ railway underpass bridge (RUB) costs somewhere between 25-35 crore rupees. Each bridge will have two lanes and a footpath. 

The location details of the approved ROB’s are:

Hosangadi, Nileshwaram, Koyilandy-Elathur, Thalassery-Mahi (Two) in Malabar and Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram, Shoranur-Ernakulam,  Shoranur-Nilambur, Ernakulam-Kayamkulam will have 17 ROB’s. 

In 2018 KRDSL was given the responsibility of constructing 27 ROB’s at the various level crosses in the state. In 2019, the Cabinet approved the signing of a memorandum with the central government and the railways. The project remained stagnant for two years.

On 28 May 2021, the state government and the railway ministry signed an MoU but the progress of the project is slow. Social impact studies are complete. But land acquisition in many places proved a challenge and that is why tenders have not been called.

V Ajithkumar, MD of Kerala rail development corporation said that out of the 27 approved, work is ongoing at the Nilambur ROB. Tenders will be called for the rest after land acquisition is complete.