Road Ministry kick-starts construction of 200 rail-over-bridges across the country

Road Ministry kick-starts construction of 200 rail-over-bridges across the country

New Delhi: As differences with the railways over the funding have been reconciled, the road ministry has set in motion construction of  200 rail over bridges (RoBs) to replace level crossings on the national highways at an estimated expenditure of Rs 10,000 crore. The road ministry will solely fund the project.

Though the need for setting up of RoBs was felt long back, the job never gathered the desired momentum primarily because of the funding issues between the two departments. Now, with the road ministry deciding to bear all the expenses without seeking half of the funds from the railways, it is set to gather momentum, a senior road ministry official said.

“The problem is over. We have decided to construct 200 RoBs. Half of them is likely to be constructed in the current fiscal while the remaining in the coming year,” he said, adding that it generally requires R50 crore to construct one RoB.

The primary aim of building RoBs is to ensure that no accidents take place at the level crossings which have caused a lot of deaths in the past. The official said with the construction of 200 RoBs, 90% of the level crossings on the national highways would be covered with the RoBs.

RoBs would be constructed through the EPC route. Since all these projects are unlikely be awarded at one go, Cabinet approval would not be required, he said.