Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Railway foot overbridge closed for repairs

Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA: Pedestrian traffic on the railway foot-over bridge near Vijayawada railway station on Thursday came to a halt following a major repair work taken up by the railway officials by removing a worn-out concrete slab on the slope on Wynchpet side.

The railwaymen, smelling the impending danger, blocked both ways around 8 a.m. and removed the 5.5-foot concrete slab by using sledgehammers.

Unaware of the repair works, many pedestrians, especially employees and students, reached the bridge only to be driven away.

"Last night, the bridge was all right. I was told in the morning that the repair works were going on," said V. Ajay Kumar, a student of Telaprolu Raja High School.

"This is a normal preventive maintenance work. This portion of the bridge was identified as precarious and we decided to take up the repair works in a full-fledged manner," said Senior Division Engineer (co-ordination) M. Ravindra Reddy.

He said all the 40-odd foot-overbridges in Vijayawada division were repaired by replacing the worn-out slabs, steel material and blots on a regular basis. Incidentally, the foot-overbridge was constructed in 1985 for the free flow of pedestrian traffic on either side of the Vijayawada railway station.

Mr. Reddy said that the steel material in the concrete structure got weakened due to corrosion.

"The repair works would be completed with in a week and we are also removing another 2.5-foot concrete slab on the same side which needs immediate attention," he added.

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