Title - Central Railway floats tenders to complete works for ensuing Kumbh

NASHIK: Central Railway (CR) authorities have initiated work related to the forthcoming Kumbh Mela. Tenders worth Rs.1.76 crore for the extension and widening of the foot overbridge (FoB) at the Mumbai-end of Nashik Road railway station were floated by the railway on September 10.

The Central Railways has proposed a Rs 45-crore development plan for Nashik Road railway station, including acquisition of land ‘reserved for railway and allied activities’ by the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC). In the priority plan of Rs.25 crore, only important works, like construction and extension of the FoB and construction of temporary and permanent structures for passenger amenities were included.

The district administration has said that the Maharashtra government would be sharing fifty per cent of the costs of work included in the priority plan of the railways. The CR, however, is yet to receive any confirmation from the state government about such fund sharing, a senior CR official told on Saturday.

The extension of the FoB at Nashik Road station will enable commuters to cross the railway tracks from the city-end and reach the area where a new platform (number 4) is expected to come up.

The present FoB at the Nashik Road station stretches from platform number 1 (PF-1) to 2 (PF-2) and only at the Mumbai-end. Commuters wanting to cross over have to cross the third track, which handles all train traffic towards Mumbai. The demand for the facility at this point had been long pending, especially for commuters going towards the Sinnar-Phata. The extended FoB will be of great assistance to commuters, who could take the stairs from just outside PF-1 (towards Nashik city) and directly cross all tracks to land at PF-4 (to be constructed soon), which will be developed as an entry point from the Sinnar-Phata side.

“The width of the new FoB will be 4.88 meters, as against the existing FoB of 3.66 meter. The new FoB will also be connected with the existing FoB and will have staircases that will land on PF-2 andPF-3,” the CR official said. The facility will boost the movement of passengers at Nashik Road station, he said.

Central Railway officials said that the state government is yet to send any communication about funds for the Kumbh Mela or sharing fifty per cent of the costs required to develop infrastructural facilities for the event. With no confirmation of the funds, no work has been taken up by the CR so far.

“There is no need for any additional infrastructure by the railways at Nashik Road to handle the current load of the traffic. At the most, the FoB is required, and hence we have taken it on a priority basis,” the railway official said. He specified that the railways was carrying out the job from its own funds and will expedite the work if the state government consented to the sharing of funds.