Title - 2 more foot over bridges to come up at Pune railway station

PUNE: Two more foot over bridges (FOBs) will come up at Pune railway station to ease the passenger rush on the two existing ones. While work on one of the proposed FOBs will start soon after the monsoon, the proposal for the second one is awaiting clearance from the head office.Officials said that one FOB will open at both sides of the station and connect all the six platforms and the second FOB will connect platform number one, two and three.The administration recently finalized plans to start work on both the bridges. Work on the smaller FOB will start first, and on the bigger one as soon as the final approval for tendering process comes from the head office, officials said.Public relation officer of Pune railway division Y K Singh said, "Additional FOBs are part of various works planned to introduce passenger-friendly initiatives on the premises of the railway station. The FOBs will help decentralize crowding of passengers at the two existing FOBs and will streamline passenger and goods movement especially during the rush hour."

Officials said there was a need to install additional FOBs considering increased movement of trains and passengers. More than one lakh passengers travel every day from the station in about 150 trains.

Frequent travellers from the station pointed out that the existing FOBs were proving insufficient during peak hours. Stampede like situations have been witnessed in the past at the old FOB that lands at both sides of the station.

Habeeb Shaikh, a traveler said, "People cannot walk on the FOB in the evening when major long distance trains arrive and depart from the station. There is a need to increase capacity of existing FOBs or construct new ones. The administration should understand that frequent overcrowding can even cause accidents."

Singh said that the FOB connecting platform number one, two and three will come up at the Solpaur end. It will help passengers entering from the main entrance to reach platforms two and three. The bigger FOB will come in between two existing FOBs and will land at both sides of the station so that passengers will be able to enter the station from the parking areas. It will save time of the passengers, he said.

The administration recently completed the repairs and extension work of FOB at Chinchwad station.