Green signal for Pragati Maidan underpass after yrs of delay

Revised design limits corridor to light vehicles; work paused since 2023 after concrete boxes shifted under rail tracks.

Following months of discussions, the Union ministry of railways has agreed to allow Delhi government’s Public Works Department (PWD) to move ahead with its plans to start construction for the last remaining underpass of the Pragati Maidan tunnel network and make it operational for light motor vehicles, officials aware of the matter said on Wednesday.

PWD to submit schedule as an overhead rail line may be blocked for about 40 days to complete the stalled Bhairon Marg stretch. (HT Archive)

underpass

PWD has now been asked to submit a plan to the Railways following which an overhead railway line will be blocked for around 40 days to allow construction, officials said.

“PWD is in the process of making a detailed plan with the schedule of the works and what is left. We will share the plan within the next few weeks and will start work as soon as we receive the approvals,” PWD minister Parvesh Verma said.

The work had hit a roadblock four months ago, with the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) and the ministry of railways in discussions over how to complete the partially constructed structure. The impasse has left a crucial stretch between south and east Delhi burdened with persistent traffic congestion, even as the project enters its third year of delay.

While the main tunnel and five underpasses were inaugurated and opened to the public in June 2022 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Underpass Number 5 – along Bhairon Marg – remains incomplete and is the main hurdle. The project has been stuck since mid-2023, when construction had to be halted following the sinking and shifting of two concrete boxes that were being pushed under an active railway overbridge. Officials aware of the matter said that the site’s proximity to the Yamuna, high groundwater levels and the presence of three active railway lines above the tunnel alignment has added to the engineering challenges in the project.

After months of technical reviews and consultations with IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay, PWD proposed a redesign earlier this year. The new design proposes to reduce the height and width of the underpass, limiting it to just light vehicles and cutting the carriageway from three lanes to two. The height would come down from 5.5 metres to 3.9 metres, and the width from 11.5 metres to 6.25 metres, effectively converting the planned three-lane corridor into a two-lane road which can exclusively be used by smaller vehicles. Officials explained that this was the only technically feasible approach without dismantling the railway tracks above.

“We had proposed the revised plan nearly six months ago that has been under consideration by the ministries of urban affairs and railways,” said a PWD official.

If approvals are secured, officials estimate it will take around eight months to complete the remaining 28 metres of the 110-metre underpass. The structure is divided into two sections: a completed two-lane carriageway used by traffic from ITO–Ring Road towards Bhairon Marg, and the still-incomplete three-lane carriageway that will carry vehicles from Bhairon Marg towards Ring Road.

The underpass is part of the integrated corridor designed to ease movement around Pragati Maidan and provide signal-free connectivity between Sarai Kale Khan ISBT and Kashmere Gate. Until the missing section is constructed, Bhairon Marg-bound traffic is forced to take diversions and U-turns, adding to travel time on one of the city’s busiest stretches.