Title - Plan for subways as part of Sabari Rail project finalised - The New Indian Express

The blueprint for the proposed subways as part of the ambitious Sabari Rail project along the Angamaly-Kalady stretch has been finalised.

A final decision in this regard was taken at a recent meeting convened by District Collector P I Sheik Pareeth and the Railway authorities concerned with the project.

According to Railway officials, the subways have been planned at the Vaappalissery-Angamaly Road, Pirarur Road and Vaappalissery Canal Road. The roads, located on the Angamaly-Kalady stretch will be within the first reach of the Sabari rail project in the state.

Procedures for the construction of the underpasses will commence soon as they are necessary to facilitate road traffic on the route once the Sabari rail line is commissioned, officials pointed out. “Several stretches of the road on the route have been taken over for the construction of the railway line. It is in the Railways agenda to construct either subways or rail overbridges to compensate for the loss of area which is presently being used by the public for commuting. Since the construction of RoBs will require excessive funding, the Railways had opted for construction of subways,” officials said.

The district administration has already acquired the land required for the construction of the subways.

As per plan, the underpass at Vaappalissery will be built at a height of 5 metres, with a width of 4 metres, whereas at Piraroor, the underpass will be 5 metres wide and 3.9 metres high.

Along the Vaappalissery Container Road, the underpass will be built at a height of 4 metres and with a width of 3 metres. Earlier, the authorities had formulated a similar design for the construction of the underpass along the stretches.

However, based on the demands of the people’s representatives, it was decided to revise the original plan as the proposed height for the underpasses was comparatively low at 3.7 metres. It was argued that this, if implemented, would create traffic bottlenecks along the stretch.

Meanwhile, the district administration has already acquired 2.8578 hectares of land for the Sabari rail project at Angamaly village, 4.6307 hectares at Nedumbassery, 1.4027 hectares at Mattoor and 0.0236 hectare at Vadakkumbagom village.

Though land has been acquired for the project in several areas, the Railways plan to first complete the track-laying works along the Angamaly-Kalady route.

According to Railway officials, there are not sufficient funds to carry out further work and it is mandatory that the state government should contributes fifty per cent share of the funds for the project, which has put the entire project in the limbo.

Yet another issue plaguing the project is the people’s opposition in areas where residents will be displaced due to the land acquisition.

However, a few months ago, the state government had said that a new alignment has been approved for the Angamaly-Erumely Sabari railway line from Melappara to Erumeli, which will reduce the overall distance by 20 km and significantly reduce the number of houses and shops which will have to be demolished for the purpose.