Railway crossbars a cause of concern

KOCHI: The lethargic approach of the Railways in removing four dilapidated   railway crossbars at Pachalam is delaying the effective implementation of   traffic re-routing through the area as part of the North Rail Overbridge (ROB) reconstruction project.The old crossbars at Mathai Manjooran road, Chathiyath road, Lourde Hospital Road and the western side of Pachalam Junction regularly cause traffic jams  in the already-congested roads, especially in the wake of the current traffic diversion.“Most of the roads are one-way routes. But, people seldom obey the rules there. We are planning to appoint around 10 traffic personnel to direct  traffic. But, for this to be done the crossbars need to be removed as they increase the congestion,” said Traffic CI M M Stalin. “The railway officials have assured that the crossbars will be removed by Monday. We will appoint the traffic personnel only after the work is done,” he added.  Meanwhile, the railway officials keeps passing the buck amongst themselves regarding who is in charge of the work. The crossbars were once a part of the Palakkad-Ernakulam Railway Goods station railway route. However, these were not removed even after the railway route went defunct. Recently, the crossbar in Lourde Hospital road was damaged badly after it was hit by a bus. Even after repeated complaints by residents, no action was taken.