After foot over-bridge snub, railways pulls up its socks to deliver in record time

NEW DELHI: The railways suffered a blow to its prestige following the government decision to call in the army to build foot over-bridges in Mumbai. And now, after the snub, project execution in the railways has picked up pace with zones competing among one another to finish projects.
So keen is the competition among zones that records are said to be fast tumbling.
For instance, railways engineers completed the construction of a new FOB and an additional entry at Tilaknagar on the Mumbai suburban network in 75 days and restored a 50-year-old bridge on Kottavalasa-Koraput-Kirandul rail line in a record 58 days. A 50-metre FOB on the eastern peripheral expressway, being constructed to unclog Delhi, was completed in a record 100 days.
The “change” in functioning of the rail bureaucracy came after the egos of the engineer-dominated national transporter were bruised by the sudden announcement by the railways minister, Piyush Goyal, to call in the army to build an FOB after the Elphinstone tragedy that killed 23 people.
A railways document noted that calling the army to construct three FoBs in Mumbai boosted competition as zones began “working to finish FoBs ahead of target”.