Title - New railway bridge brings better connectivity

NOIDA: With the commissioning of the railway over-bridge (ROB) at Dankaur on the eastern periphery, Gautam Budh Nagar has now achieved better connectivity with neighbouring districts of Aligarh and Bulandshahr. This has brought much respite to residents as well as transport vehicles of industries. The 737m-long ROB has been jointly constructed by the Uttar Pradesh Bridge Corporation (UPBC) and the Indian Railways in a little over two years and is expected to reduce long queues of vehicles at the railway crossing when it remains closed many times in the day to let trains pass. The ROB, which is at present a two-lane carriageway, will in the future be upgraded to four lanes.For upgrading the ROB to four lanes, a proposal has been sent by the UPBC to the state government after obtaining permission from the Railway Board. The existing two-lane double carriageway is 7.5m wide and has been built with 70 R Class Loading specifications in order to allow heavy vehicles to pass over it."The proposal for constructing this ROB was accepted in 2009-10 and work began on it in April 2010," said a senior official of UPBC. "All work has been completed on the ROB in a span of just two years," said the official.The project has been built at Rs 20.75 crore. While the UPBC has invested Rs 12.97 crore for building the approach roads on either sides of the ROB, the Railway Board pumped in the rest of the amount."As per rail traffic standards, there is provision for construction of a four-lane over bridge at crossings where the TUV exceeds 3 lakh per day," said the official. "Since the TUV is around 8 lakh per day at the Dankaur crossing, the Railway Board has given the approval for construction of a four-lane carriageway," said the official.The opening of the ROB is expected to bring great relief to commuters along the Ghaziabad-Bulandshahr route, which passes through Gautam Budh Nagar. Commuters now no longer need to waste time at the railway crossing while travelling to Aligarh, Bulandshahr or Sikandrabad. It is also a relief for those travelling from Delhi to these places through the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway."We had to take the Ghaziabad route to travel to the neighbouring districts to avoid the constant traffic jams at the railway crossings at Dankaur and Dadri," said Vikram Singh Kasana, a resident of Gamma-II in Greater Noida.The seamless connectivity with the neighbouring districts is also expected to be a big boost for the industrial sector. "Transport costs would come down substantially since vehicles carrying goods to and from the industrial estate in Sikandrabad to Gautam Budh Nagar would now no longer need to take the Ghaziabad route," said S P Sharma, president of the Greater Noida chapter of Indian Industries Association. "Moreover, the problem of labour shortage in Noida and Greater Noida would be reduced as labourers can move easily through better connectivity," added Sharma.