MARGAO
It’s official. What was anticipated long ago will finally come true from next week. Come May 1 and the manned level crossing gate at Chandor, connecting to the Chandor Church circle and Guirdolim junction will be closed permanently for road traffic.
In fact, the South Western Railway on Friday issued a notice for the information of the public that the level crossing will no longer remain open for vehicular traffic from Monday.
Justifying the decision to shut the manned level crossing at Chandor, the South Western Railway has maintained that the Railways have already commissioned an underpass at the railway crossing last year and have thrown open a bridge on the Chandor road at the border of Sao Jose de Areal, Chandor, Guirdolim and Curtorim.
This is the third manned level crossing along the South Western Railway line to be closed for traffic after the double tracking of the railway line. The Chandor railway crossing is the first railway crossing to be shut for traffic after the commissioning of the track doubling project.
Both the underpass at the Chandor railway crossing and the Chandor bridge were executed by the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. While the road underpass at the level crossing was commissioned by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on September 9, 2022, the Chandor bridge was thrown up for vehicular traffic by PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral on March 10 last.
A senior railway official informed that the Railways had spent around Rs 50-odd lakh towards the construction of the underpass, while it cost the Railways a couple of crores to build the Chandor bridge.
Work on both the Chandor underpass and the Chandor bridge have been executed by the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd.
This is the first manned railway crossing in Salcete that will be permanently closed for vehicular traffic. Other manned railway crossing located in Salcete include Nessai at Sao Jose de Areal, Davorlim, Comba railway crossing at Margao and Seraulim.
While the Goa government had over a decade ago built the Comba underpass at Margao, an underpass is nearing completion at Seraulim village.
Sources in the Railways informed that all the level crossings will be permanently shut down after providing the alternatives.
Take the case of the Comba level crossing at Margao. Though it’s a decade since the Comba underpass was built by the government, the Comba crossing has not been permanently shut down for the reason that the underpass cannot cater to the traffic requirements.
In this respect, the PWD has mooted a flyover at the Comba railway crossing, which is expected to cost around Rs 100 crore. The design and plan of the bridge has received the nod from the Railways and the work on the project will start only after getting the financial sanction.
A Railway official told The Goan the Goa government and the Railways should expedite the construction of underpasses and flyovers at the railway crossings. Reason: Presently, around 70-odd trains are running on the Konkan Railway line and further expansion would only result in frequent closure of the manned railway crossing disturbing vehicular traffic.
