New foot overbridge at railway station set to be inaugurated

Started in 2010, the much-awaited foot overbridge (FOB) at the city railway station is set to be inaugurated any day after January 28.

The 20-foot-wide new overbridge will replace the existing 8-foot-wide bridge, which was unable to handle the load of visitors. It will connect entry and exit points from old GT Road to Guru Nanak Dev Stadium as well as all seven platforms of the station.

The railways proposed to construct the foot overbridge in 2010 to link all platforms and both entries to the railway station. The railway officials found the space between the tracks insufficient to install pillars of the overbridge, and therefore decided to design a new bridge.

The footbridge is a long-pending demand of the residents and during a visit to the railway station, former railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had assured the residents that it would be constructed soon. Union information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari also took up the issue with the ministry concerned.

No passage on platform number 1

The new foot overbridge has been given no passage on platform number 1, which is the busiest platform. Passengers would have to go out on the old GT Road from platform number 2, and from there they will have to proceed towards the main platform.

A daily passenger, Parampreet Kaur, said her train came to platform number 1, so she had no use of this new foot overbridge, adding that the new FOB should be connected to platform number 1 as well, as majority of the trains arrive at this platform.

There was a proposal of an escalators passage on platform number 1, but that too has not been initiated.

Official take

NC Goyal, division railway manager (DRM), Ferozepur Division, Northern Railway, said, “The construction work for the new foot overbridge is almost complete. I would not be available till January 28, but have informed the headquarters that overbridge is ready for inauguration, and thus, it can be inaugurated any day now.”

Regarding no passage of the overbridge on platform number 1, Goyal said it was purposely done. “There was no space on the platform 1, where the passage could be given. We have not taken any decision on the escalator passage on this platform yet, as it can be worked out later too,” he added.