Maha: CR installs escalator at Diva to cut down on incidents of trespassing

As part of its efforts to bring down incidents of trespassing the Central Railway has installed a new escalator at Diva East in Maharashtras Thane district an official said on MondayThe setting up of a new escalator has allowed the Railways to close peoples access to the level crossing which has been a site for accidents that lead to deaths and cause delays in suburban and longdistance trains the official saidThe escalator for Diva West is also ready and will be opened shortly after testing while another escalator will be set up on platform number 1 and 2 for the convenience of commuters he saidThe Railways has appealed to the public to use the escalators as trespassing is dangerous and is punishable under the Railway Act 1989 the official saidMeanwhile on SaturdaySunday night two crucial bridges on Central Railway Mumbai made strides ahead While phase one of the Nahur road widening bridge was completed with the new lanes set to soon open for traffic the sixth footover bridge at Thane station also completed two spans of girder launches last nightldquoYes we completed a few major works last night that included widening of Nahur bridge by launching girders and completing its phase one and also launching spans of a sixth footover bridge at Thane stationrdquo a CR spokesperson saidAlso readTwo dead four Injured as container overturns and collides with cars on MumbaiPune ExpresswayThe Nahur Road over the bridge is one of the crucial feeder routes as it links the proposed GoregaonMulund Link Road and the existing arterial LBS Road in the west to Eastern Express Highway in the east over rail lines and also Navi Mumbai at Airoli junction across the creek The stretch over the rail lines at present is a very narrow one and a real bottleneck with immense traffic jams and the authoritiesrsquo converting footpaths on both sides of the road into a vehicular road by levelling it This road bridge widened to eight lanes and a new one proposed over rail lines at Bhandup go a long way in improving eastwest connectivity in the eastern suburbsldquoA total of 72metre long 14 girders were to be launched with eight of the newer lanes in phase one and six of the older bridge in phase two With the work and railway block last night between 120 am to 420 am in three hours the work under phase one was completed Now once surfacing is complete traffic will be diverted on the newer lanes and the middle portion of the bridge would be started under phase twordquo he addedldquoIt is a very important development for northeast Mumbai that the Nahur road over bridge project is finally gaining momentum This will give a major relief from traffic congestion in NahurMulund bringing convenience and smoother commutesrdquo local Member of Parliament Manoj Kotak who has been following the work on the bridge minutely told MidDayldquoAt Thane station there are five footover bridges and a new one is being built On Saturday night with the launch of yet another span between 1135 am to 435 am two of the total seven spans have completed launching Five more such spans are now required to complete the bridgerdquo a CR spokesperson saidThe new bridge is coming up at the CSMT end of the station and will be the sixth one at the station