Metro ready but foot overbridge missing: Kolkata's Beleghata commuters stare at risky road crossing

KOLKATA: Arjun Das, a resident of Metropolitan on EM Bypass, is happy that the Metro station across the road may finally be operational shortly, as part of the Orange Line’s 4.5 km extension from Ruby. “But I am wondering how to walk to the station, negotiating the speeding cars with my elderly parents and my kids,” he rued. The foot overbridge (FOB) that would link the Metro station with the other side is yet to be constructed.


Despite nod for commercial operations from the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS), the last and fourth station of the Orange Line’s ready-to-open Ruby-Metropolitan section is incomplete. It doesn’t have the most important access — from the opposite side of Bypass. The CRS pointed out the urgent need to build an FOB before commissioning the Metro station when it gave its approval around a year ago.
Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), which implements most of the city’s Metro projects, and Metro Railway, which runs the city’s rapid transit network, have been urging Kolkata Police for over two years to be allowed to barricade the middle of this section on Bypass to set up the FOB. Several trial runs were conducted. The matter was even broached in stakeholders’ meetings time and again. “The FOB is the most crucial entry-exit point to Beleghata station (as the station at Metropolitan is called). Most settlements are on the other side of Bypass. So are the star hotels, where many people work. The part where the station has been built only has wetlands,” said Sudakshina Chatterjee, another local resident.
In fact, the station, which has been built next to the carriageway and not atop, has as many as seven accesses, instead of the usual four. The other two stations built on the ground and not over it are Barun Sengupta (Science City) and Kavi Subhas (New Garia). They have multiple access points, too. “People will face a similar problem accessing Barun Sengupta station as an FOB wasn’t allowed at Parama crossing. An underpass was proposed. Again, no traffic block was available,” an urban development official said.
Asked about the lack of FOB at Beleghata station, the official replied, “One can’t blame the cops. They said they can’t manage if the middle of the road is cordoned because of the heavy traffic flow, especially from Science City to Chingrighata. RVNL was asked to prioritize and choose one traffic block at a time. They went for Chingrighata.” A railway official said, “Neither traffic blocks — at Metropolitan or Chingrighata — is available.” A traffic officer said, “We will have to think of some ways to help pedestrians cross over safely.”