02-08-2025
‘Passageway under rail overbridge: GCC to firm up plans by mid-August'
Not long ago, Commissioner of Greater Chennai Corporation J. Kumaragurubaran with a posse of officials from GCC's Bridges Division and Egmore MLA I. Paranthamen were studying the precincts of a brick-and-mortar stairway that is linked to Dr. Guruswami road overbridge. They were considering a possibility, which on fruition would make the stairway redundant for pedestrians seeking to get to the Chetpet railway station, or to neighbourhoods on the other side.
This visit gave Chetpet residents a glimmer of hope, as it was a sign that a decades-long request of theirs could be met. The request is a passageway under the ROB. It would spare residents on the Harrington road and McNichols Road side, particularly students of the half a dozen schools there, the need to cross Dr. Guruswami bridge to reach the Chetpet railway station.
Kripa Sagar Janardhanan, one of the residents avidly pursuing this matter, reported that the dusty, macadam approach road to the stairway had been cleaned, and small blue metal stones laid on it. Bitumen-topping is said to be round the corner. Hope deepened, and he noted that communication from the Egmore MLA's office had it that GCC's Bridges Division would have a firm plan in hand by mid-August.
When The Hindu Downtown contacted him, Egmore MLA I. Paranthamen revealed that in the last week of July, he heard from GCC's Bridges Division. According to the MLA, GCC officials from the Bridges Division informed him that expert opinion from structural engineers in MIT and Anna University about constructing a passageway under the road overbridge was being sought and those engineers would present the report in around two weeks — which would be in the August 10-15 time frame. The MLA further said that the GCC officials told him they are also in talks with railway contractors who are best qualified to take up this kind of work.
There is likelihood of the passageway being created with precast blocks.
Paranthamen said he had asked the GCC Bridges Division engineers to complete this work before N-E monsoon; he added that this passageway would be a boon to the students studying in half-a-dozen schools in this region who commute by train.
