A brick wall in Block G of New Alipore was demolished on Thursday to make way for a new road to connect Humayun Kabir Sarani with Alipore Avenue across a canal and the rail tracks to the east of the fallen Majerhat bridge.
The demolition paved the way for the railways to mark out the alignment of the road that will be an alternative route for vehicles that would earlier take the Majerhat bridge to reach parts of Ekbalpore and Kidderpore from Thakurpukur and Behala.
A team of engineers from Eastern Railway used chalk powder to denote the alignment of the proposed road that will also have a level crossing. They also marked the four posts and two track signals that would have to be shifted.
Officers in Lalbazar, the city police headquarters, said that cars that are currently being diverted down Durgapur bridge would be allowed to take this new road from Humayun Kabir Sarani through Block G to reach Alipore Avenue.
The proposal to set up another level crossing for a second road metres away — this one was to be built parallel to the Majerhat bridge — has been turned down because of technical reasons.
“The distance between the starter signal at Majerhat station and the advanced starter signal is too small for the railways to set up a level crossing. Our safety protocol does not permit such a deviation,” a railway official said.
The canal adjoining the rail tracks will have a pair of Bailey bridges. The bridges will carry traffic in two lanes from either side of the New Alipore-Alipore route.
“The Bailey bridges will stand on piers. The task of testing the soil before piling was completed on Thursday. The test results should reach us by the weekend. The piers will take close to three weeks to build,” a PWD engineer said. “The railways will also need some time to set up the level crossing. We are hoping the road can be opened in mid-November.”
The government had fixed Durga Puja as the deadline to open the two proposed roads, one adjoining the fallen bridge and the other along Alipore Avenue. That target seems unrealistic now given the pace of work and the technical challenges.
After marking the alignment of the first road, railway engineers met their PWD counterparts to discuss the possibility of shifting the road five to six metres west towards the Majerhat bridge.
The PWD has already completed the groundwork for the southward extension of Alipore Avenue till the canal.
With the proposed level crossing set to come up six metres away from the rail tracks on either side, a team of workers started clearing the thicket on Thursday to make space for the gateman’s room.
Eastern Railway might be forced to reduce the number of suburban trains that ply on the Sealdah-Budge Budge section once the new road is opened.
“A level crossing takes approximately six minutes to open and close. If we continue with the existing set of trains, crossing the tracks would be impossible,” a railway official said. “A separate team is working on that and a decision will be taken at the highest level.”
