WB gave Rs 14 cr to ER for level crossing under Tallah Bridge

The West Bengal government has given about Rs 14 crore to Eastern Railway to construct a level crossing on the tracks under the arterial Tallah bridge in the city for heavy vehicles to ply when the structure is dismantled, a senior official of the state government said on Thursday.

The official said the ER officials agreed that a level crossing was "technically and policy-wise" possible at the location to allow movement of heavy vehicles when the dismantling of 625 m rail overbridge bridge, which has been declared as most vulnerable, begins later this month.

ER will, however, seek the final nod from New Delhi on the level crossing.

The proposal for the level crossing was mooted by the chief secretary Rajiva Sinha during a high-level meeting on Thursday with senior officials of the ER at its headquarters here.

During the meeting the design for the new bridge to come up in place of Tallah bridge as proposed by the state government was not approved by the Railways, the official said.

A task force including DRM (Sealdah), one engineer of the Railways and principal secretaries to the state public works and transport departments was formed to look into design which would be prepared by the Railways, he said.

"There was also a discussion on whether construction of a cable stayed bridge was possible. The Railways officials agreed to it and said that their plan for the new bridge will be chalked out keeping this option in mind," the official said.

Meanwhile, the demolition of the bridge was postponed to sometime later this month after police failed to chalk out alternate routes for the vehicles plying on the 57-year-old structure.

Demolition of the Tallah bridge, which joins the central part of the city to the vast northern suburbs, was earlier scheduled to start from January 4.

"For the time being light vehicles will continue to ply over the bridge until the diversions are fixed," a senior Kolkata Police officer said.

Six other bridges in the city - Bijon setu, Gouribari Aurobindo Setu, Belgachhia bridge, Tollygunge Circular Road bridge, Dhakuria bridge and Santragachi bridge have also been labelled as 'most vulnerable'.