BHUBANESWAR: The third foot overbridge (FOB) connecting platform 1 to 6 of Bhubaneswar railway station was opened for public use on Monday. It was constructed in view of heavy rush in the station during morning and evening time.East Coast Railway (ECoR) sources said the six-metre wide FOB is the largest one in the state. Its length is 72 meters touching all six platforms. A total of Rs 4 crore has been spent for the project.The work was sanctioned by the Railway Board on January 17. Work was started on January 19 and completed on Monday with a record time of 150 days. The ECoR opened the FOB soon in the evening after completion of the work in the morning, official sources said.Elphinstone station tragedy in Mumbai had prompted the ECoR to come up with a wide FOB. ECoR general manager Umesh Singh had taken the decision last year to construct another FOB in the station.Braj Mohan Agarwal, divisional railway manager of Khurda Road, said most of the works were being executed in night time due to movement of passengers during the daytime. “General manager had set a target to complete the bridge work within six months. But we completed it in five months,” he added.The existing two FOBs witness heavy rush between 9.30 am to 10.30 am and 4 pm to 5 pm daily. Sometimes the FOBs get crowded when two or three passenger trains reach or leave the station at the same time. The station receives a footfall of around 80,000 passengers and handles on an average 200 trains every day.Agarwal said the passengers are increasing day by day in the A1 station and existing two FOBs are inadequate to cater the requirement. This new FOB was highly essential to address this problem, he added.The city railway station has managed to earn revenue of Rs 355.4 crore from ticketing in 2017-18. It has also received record footfall of more than 1.68 crore passengers during the last financial year.

Stay updated with all the Latest Bhubaneswar headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.