Construction of 52 Road-over-Bridges (RoBs) at railway level crossings will be taken up in Telangana this year. Though the Indian Railways and the State government will equally share the estimated cost of Rs 2,700 crore for construction of these RoBs, the Roads and Buildings Department has been entrusted with the construction works besides taking up development of approach roads on both sides of railway tracks.

In a meeting chaired by Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao at Jala Soudha here on Wednesday, Roads and Buildings Minister Tummala Nageshwar Rao, Transport Minister P Mahender Reddy, Principal Secretary Sameer Sharma, South Central Railway General Manager Vinod Yadav and others participated to review progress of construction of RoBs.

The officials said the RoBs were aimed at reducing accidents and also streamlining traffic near railway level crossings.

In all, proposals have been prepared for construction of RoBs at 460 railway level crossings identified in the State. The Railways Ministry has approved construction of 52 RoBs in the current fiscal and construction of 16 RoBs was nearing completion. The Ministers instructed the Collectors to expedite land acquisition for construction of RoBs and expansion of approach roads to the RoBs.

Nageshwar Rao requested the railway authorities to allocate necessary funds for restoration of old RoBs considering the increasing vehicular movement at various railway level crossings.

He also urged allocation of funds for expansion or construction of four-lane RoBs at level crossings where four-lane roads were being developed.

Railway officials said laying of Medak-Akkampalli railway line would be completed by the end of 2018. They also said proposals for construction of a railway terminal at Miyapur-Patancheru stretch on the outskirts of Hyderabad were under examination, while second phase works of MMTS in Hyderabad city would be completed by the end of December this year.