Title - For railway, Tilak Bridge safety first

NEW DELHI: Three months after work on an underground tunnel in Mandi House-ITO section of Delhi Metro got stalled because of its close proximity to the Tilak Bridge railway overpass, the Northern Railway officials said that it was their "duty to ensure that a mega budget project does not hurt the safety concerns'' of the railways.

The Northern railway on Friday maintained that they have asked for clarifications and that once these "safety issues" are sorted out, permission will be duly given to DMRC to proceed with the work. "We have seen that the DMRC have time and again taken up the matter with the media. Yet none of their top officials contacted us directly," said a top railway official.

V K Gupta, general manager, Northern Railway, said that they are hopeful of giving the permission. "This is a running line that connects one of the busiest railway stations in the country. With the onset of the monsoon season, we need to be extra careful about the security and safety of our structure.,'' he said. A DMRC official termed it as a procedural issue. As the corridor is below the Tilak Bridge, the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) has checked the corridor for any unsafe practices, the official said.