Mahakalipadpu twin RuB misses February deadline, Railways promise to complete project by April-end

Railways promise to complete project by April-end. Divisional Railway Manager of Southern Railway’s Palakkad division Arun Kumar Chaturvedi told The Hindu that steep slopes at the project site require micro piling to be done for stability. Hence, the boxes could not be pushed before February. Concrete boxes are kept ready and would be pushed from April first week after placing girders beneath the rails with the work expected to be over by April-end.

Notwithstanding road users running out of patience, the Southern Railway and the Mangaluru Smart City Limited have missed another deadline, of February 2025, to complete the twin Railway Under Bridge (RuB) project at Mahakalipadpu on the busy Morgan’s Gate-Jeppu Patna (NH 66 Junction) road.

Ever since the road was closed on December 21, 2022, all vehicles, except two-wheelers, heading from the central business district towards Thokkottu, Ullal and Kasargod were made to take a detour via Pumpwell Circle, thereby wasting considerable amount of energy, time and money.

While laying the foundation stone for the project, being funded by the Mangaluru Smart City Limited (₹30.7 crore) and the MPLAD funds (₹19.87 crore), on March 28, 2021, the then Member of Parliament Nalin Kumar Kateel had announced that the project would get completed in 12 months. However, the project dragged on for months together. Both the boxes beneath the Shoranur-Mangaluru Junction line and one beneath the Mangaluru Central line have been completed while another is pending.

The Railways had used the excavation method for constructing the box beneath the Mangaluru Central line, but has now decided to use the box-pushing method for technical reasons.

Divisional Railway Manager of Southern Railway’s Palakkad division Arun Kumar Chaturvedi told The Hindu that steep slopes at the project site require micro piling to be done for stability. Hence, the boxes could not be pushed before February. Concrete boxes are kept ready and would be pushed from April first week after placing girders beneath the rails with the work expected to be over by April-end.

Before that, MSCL has to get three electricity poles shifted and re-do the approach road between the existing Mahakalipadpu Level Crossing and the worksite, he said. If this work is not done, the LC Gate could not be closed, thereby wasting the efforts in the construction of the twin RuB, he reasoned.

MSCL officials said the MESCOM would shift the electricity poles while the approach roads, including the ones on the main carriageway, would be made ready soon. The entire project should be completed before the onset of monsoon, they said.