(a) the details of the construction work of Road Over Bridges (ROBs) on railway crossings in Uttarakhand during the last three years;
(b) whether the construction work of ROBs has not been completed in time;
(c) if so, the reasons therefor and the steps being taken by the Government in this regard;
(d) whether the Government has any proposal to construct ROBs at various places where the State highways cross railway lines in Uttarakhand; and
(e) if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY
(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)
(a) to (c): As per Pink Book, total 6 Nos. of Road over Bridges (ROBs) have been sanctioned including last 3 years in the State of Uttarakhand. Out of these, 1 ROB has been completed and remaining ROBs are at various stages of planning, estimation and execution.
Normally, Railway undertakes construction of ROBs in Railway portion whereas approaches are being constructed by State Government. Generally, there is no problem of construction of ROBs in Railway portion. However, it is difficult to construct ROBs on approaches because it depends upon many factors such as availability of land, removal of encroachments, fixing the alignment of approaches, allocation of requisite funds etc. Therefore, it is not possible to fix the time schedule for construction of ROBs.
However, to expedite the construction of ROBs Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Ministry of Railways and State Government of Uttarakhand to eliminate all level crossings in the State by construction of ROBs/Road under Bridges (RUBs) on cost sharing basis by State Government on single entity basis.
In addition to signing of MOU, following steps has also been taken by Railways for expediting the works:
• Joint survey with all concerned including State Government to finalise the tentative General Arrangement Drawing (GAD).
• Standardization of drawings for various spans to avoid delay.
• Nomination of nodal officer for each State for single window clearance of GAD from Railway side.
• Commissioned a web-based application with user-friendly features for online submission and approval of various plans and drawings related to ROBs/RUBs of State/National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)/ Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH).
(d) & (e): There is no proposal by Railway for construction of ROB at places where State Highway crosses railway line. As per policy, level crossings having traffic density more than 1 lakh can be replaced by construction of ROBs on cost sharing basis with State government provided consent for sharing of cost and closure of level crossing after commissioning of ROB is received from State government.
*****