Unfinished Vaniyambadi railway bridge works to restart soon

VANIYAMBADI: The unfinished over bridge across the railway tracks at Valayambattu on the outskirts of Vaniyambadi, pending for more than 10 years, was expected to be completed shortly due to the efforts of Vaniyambadi AIADMK MLA G Senthil Kumar, sources said.

The bridge, which connects Valayambattu and Girisamudram, was located around 2 km from the Vaniyambadi bus stand. It replaces a level crossing where pedestrians and motorists used to be held up due to the frequent passage of trains sources said.

While the railways completed their portion of the work across the tracks and the stretch from Valayambattu side was finished, the approach road from Girisamudram side was left incomplete.

“The delay was due to a landowner going to court seeking higher compensation for the land acquired for the project. The issue has now been settled and the state highways department is expected to float tenders soon,” Senthil Kumar told DT Next.

He added that there were around 16 such bridges lying incomplete in erstwhile North Arcot district (which included Vellore, Tirupattur, Ranipet and Tiruvannamalai districts). “All the incomplete bridges are mostly at railway level crossings. In all of them, the railways have completed their portion and now it is for the state government to complete such pending works,” he added.

Asked if the delays were due to non-availability of sand as the approach roads on both sides have to be filled with this material, he said, “there is enough sand as more than 800 lorry loads are being quarried and transported from the Palar daily from Arapakkam in Vellore district on the national highway. Hence sand availability is not an issue to complete the pending works,” he added.