Tatanagar station will get its third footbridge within one year.The engineering wing of Tatanagar railway has prepared a blueprint of the Rs2-crore project under which the third footbridge would come up next to the first one at the Kharagpur end of the station.Currently, the A1-categroty station has two footbridges.

The second bridge, costing Rs 1.90 crore, was inaugurated earlier this month. Tatanagar station director H.K. Balmuchu said Garden Reach, the headquarters of South Eastern Railway (SER), had approved the proposal of a third footbridge sent by the Chakradharpur railway division.

“The third footbridge would come up at the Kharagpur end of the station.The bridge will have the facility of a ramp for wheelchairs, battery van and parcel trolleys. The bridge will ease passenger rush, especially during peak hours,” Balmuchusaid. Sources in Chakradharpur railway division revealed that a team from the SER headquarters would soon inspect Tatanagar railway station for the footbridge project.

Tatanagar, which has five platforms, is the busiest station under Chakradharpur division.

It witnesses daily movement of over 90 mail, express and other passenger trains with a footfall of around 50,000 daily.Officials of the engineering wing said the third footbridge woule be made operational within 11 months.“The third footbridge would be spacious and help to ease the load on the oother two bridges during rush hours,” an official of the engineering wing said.

Passengers welcomed the news.“The existing footbridge at the Kharagpur end is narrow. The third bridge would be of immense help for passengers” said Mahesh Agarwal, a local businessman and a frequent traveller.