30 years in making: Third viaduct opens at Kishanganj underpass

Three decades after it was conceived and almost 14 years after construction started, Kishanganj railway underbridge (RUB) is still incomplete

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Tuesday opened the third viaduct of the Kishanganj railway underpass—one of the most delayed infrastructure projects in the national capital—which is expected to improve connectivity between Old Delhi and West Delhi.

Out of four boxes that were expected to connect central and west Delhi, three have been opened at the Kishanganj underpass. (HT Photo)

Three decades after it was conceived and 14 years after the construction work started, the project is now three-fourths complete, according to officials. The overall project comprises four underpass viaducts which were to be constructed at a cost of ₹74 crore. The first viaduct was opened for traffic in December 2018, 10 years after construction began, the second viaduct was opened 43 months later in July 2022, while the third one was inaugurated on October 4, 2022 by special officer Ashwini Kumar and commissioner Gyanesh Bharti.

Former north MCD mayor Jaiprakash, who attended the inaugural ceremony, said that the opening of the third viaduct will help facilitate two-way movement from Shastri Nagar to ISBT. Special officer Kumar said after the completion of an RCC roadon the fourth viaduct, the underpass will help ease vehicular movement.

Like the Rani Jhansi flyover near St Stephen’s Hospital, which took almost 10 years to build and was opened in 2018, the Kishanganj project too has witnessed several delays and changes. The initial administrative approval for the construction of the underpass was granted by the erstwhile unified MCD in November 1992, and the final clearance came in 1998. But the construction work was started only on June 20, 2008. At that time, the civic body had said the structure will be opened to traffic before the 2010 Commonwealth Games but even a decade later, only three of the four sections have been opened to traffic.

According to officials, MCD has spent ₹74 crore to construct the Kishanganj railway underbridge (RUB ) so far, of which ₹57 crore has been provided to the railways for the construction of the four viaducts, while rest of the amount has been utilised for the development of approach rods, retaining walls, sump wells, relocation of underground public utilities and associated work. Commissioner Bharti said that the construction work of the RCC road on the fourth viaduct is continuing at a fast pace and the last viaduct will be dedicated to citizens soon.

The underbridge is expected to ease vehicular movement from New Delhi Railway Station towards Inderlok while also benefitting regions such as Gulabi Bagh, Sadar Bazar, Old Rohtak Road. Once the entire project is complete, commuters travelling from areas such as Rohini, Shalimar Bagh, and Pitampura will be able to take the underpass instead of the Outer Ring Road (GT Karnal intersection) route to reach ISBT, and central and east Delhi.

The final phase and repair requirements

According to officials, the fourth viaduct of the underpass is unlikely to be opened any time soon. A senior MCD official associated with the project said that the fourth viaduct of the project will take a lot of time due to several legal hurdles. “There are some houses located on the ramps along the fourth viaduct. The owners have taken the matter to court. Unless the court case is resolved, we will not be able to go ahead with the final phase of the project. Meanwhile, the false roof as well as road surface of the first viaduct is now badly damaged. We will have to close it down for repair. We have approached railways to carry out the repair work,” the official said.

Responding to queries about the delays in the project, another official said the MCD faced several challenges, primarily related to shifting of shops, religious structures and utilities. “We had to relocate a large number of shops to different locations,” the second official said.

Several of the city’s railway overbridge/underbridge projects being undertaken by MCD in places such as Kirari, Ghevra, Sultanpuri, Narela and Mandi are facing similar delays and cost overruns. For example, 180MT steel bars that were to be used for the Sultanpuri ROB/RUB railway overbridge/underbridge project had to be auctioned off after the project faced several delays and the contractor abandoned the project.