Project on hold as after 4 years of announcement by the union government, technical study finds project not feasible; state government fails to resolve issue as no proposal for ROBs have been sent to Railways by Dispur
After four years of a vow that was taken and a claim that was made, the government has failed to initiate any work on elevating Guwahatis railway tracks as according to a technical study conducted it has been found that the project is not feasible.
In 2016, a G Plus report raised the issue of how Guwahatians wasted 18 hours a day at level crossing gates. The same was escalated to the then Union Minister of Railways, Suresh Prabhu, who instantly sanctioned the elevation of the railway tracks running through the city to eliminate such level crossings. But till date no sign of progress in the workflow could be seen. Senior officials in the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) informed G Plus that the project is not feasible.
NFR chief public relation officer (CPRO), Subhanan Chanda, talking to G Plus said, “There was a proposal of constructing elevated railway tracks from Kamakhya to New Guwahati but the project presently is on hold as a technical study was conducted which found that the project is not feasible.” The official further expressed that for such project to be completed many aspects are studied but it was found that the required gradient was not matching. There are also space issues and many other aspects which make the project not feasible.
On being asked what the solution could be, the official said that if elevated tracks are not constructed, road over bridges (ROBs) can be constructed at railway crossings wherever the train vehicular unit (TVU) suggests that a road overbridge is required. To construct that it requires 50% investment from the state government and 50% of construction cost is invested by the Railways. “The Railways have already informed the state government regarding the railway crossings wherever ROBs are required,” said the official.
Sources in Dispur informed that the state government has not taken any decision on the ROBs even as Guwahatians continue to waste around 18 hours every day at railway crossings.
The railways, before constructing any railway track, study the TVU of every crossing and decide where there should be an over bridge or an underpass.
TVU is calculated by an arithmetic formula by studying the number of vehicles commuting through a particular crossing and also the number of trains plying through the same crossings.
According to a source in NFR, if the TVU of a particular crossing is found to be more than 1 lakh units, that crossing requires a road over bridge. The source also said that before constructing the broad gauge track line in Guwahati in 1984, the TVUs for all the crossings were studied and wherever it was required an overbridge was made.
The source also revealed that the railways carry out a survey every year and TVU is calculated for every crossing. Thereafter, till the next ten years of construction of railway tracks, if it is found that the TVU of a particular crossing requires a road over bridge or underpass, the railways construct it at its own expense.
After ten years the responsibility gets shifted to the government which is the owner of the road, and the yearly TVU calculation survey keeps continuing. Such TVU readings are sent to the state and the central governments.
After ten years, if it is found that the TVU has exceeded 1 lakh units of a particular crossing, the state or the central government sends a proposal to the Railways to construct an underpass or over bridge at the crossing for which the railways bear 50% of the construction cost.
G Plus studied the TVU units to find out which level crossings require an underpass or over bridge. If the TVU is above 80,000 units, the particular crossing requires a road underpass and if it is above 1 lakh units, the crossing requires a road over bridge.
According to the findings of the TVUs, of all the level crossings in Guwahati, it was found that only two crossings require road underpass, and all other crossings (11) require road over bridge.
This issue was raised by G Plus in 2016 and the union railway ministry announced elevated tracks from Kamakhya to New Guwahati. In 2017, Rs 5000 crores was sanctioned in the budget for the project and accordingly, a technical feasibility study started from 2018. Now it has been found that the elevated tracks project is not feasible, and road over bridge is the only option. But as of now there is no proposal from the state government for any road over bridge to the Railways.
Even the state government receives the TVU study every year and are informed even by the Railways that ROBs are required at many crossings. The issue remains unresolved.