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ShareBangalore: Mamata Banerjee's railway budget has brought cheers to the people of Karnataka. Bangalore City, Byappanahalli, and Mangalore will soon be developed into world class railway stations along with 47 others across the country. These stations will not only be expanded to handle the mounting passenger rush, they will also be Wi-Fi enabled to compete with Bangalore International Airport.
The budget gives way to develop the railway stations under public-private partnership. South Western Railway officials are planning to invite tenders to purchase additional lands to develop the stations and increase their capacity. The stations will have multiplexes, multi-level parking facilities, shopping complexes, playgrounds, food courts with private food chain brands setting shop there, commercial offices, more automated ticket and coffee vending machines, and soft-drink dispensers.
Officials will make provisions for more rest rooms, retiring rooms, and waiting rooms for passengers. Some of them will also be made fully air-conditioned. Other features include construction of multi-storied buildings, railway yards and washing areas tucked away from the existing tracks and platforms, separate freight carriage-ways, storage yards, cold-storage facilities and top class railway kitchens and canteens.
The stations will also employ modern mobile cars for physically challenged people. These facilities will be introduced to attract more business and up-scale customers to travel by train as is being done in foreign countries."Bangalore station is well-developed already. Top priority will be given for its further development and expansion. But it will take some time as the station is surrounded by commercial establishments. A multi-storied building will be constructed on Platform Number 1. Passengers will be able to enjoy state-of-the-art facilities there," Akhil Agarwal, divisional railway manager, said.
These three stations will be developed under public-private partnership. Funds and land for these projects will be provided by commercial establishments. More trains will be also be introduced at these stations. Bangalore City station handles over 1.7 lakh passengers every day. SWR officials are considering the proposal to acquire additional land adjacent to Platform Road and Binny Mills towards Magadi Road for development.
"Byappanahalli station is new and its development will be faster when compared to that of Bangalore City and Mangalore stations. We will call for tenders. Maximum exploitation of land and air space will depend on private players. A multi-disciplinary railway team will be set up which will study the requirement of the stations, areas of expansion and development," SWR's general manager Kuldeep Chaturvedi said.
"A budget of about Rs20 crore will be sanctioned to stations in Bangalore, Yeshwanthpur and Mysore for upgradation so they can also match up to the upcoming world class stations across the country," he said. While focusing on the state-of-the-art facilities that have been proposed for these stations, safety measures in the stations will also be upgraded.
The stations will have an integrated security system, the amount for which is yet to be sanctioned. They will have CCTVs that will be centrally monitored. There will also be surveillance cameras put up, dog squads and modern machinery to keep an eye on passengers and luggage.
"There will be a special squad at stations to check recurring crimes in trains and at stations. We're purchasing state-of-the-art real time viewers which are better than the existing X-ray machines. Portable explosive vapour detectors will be able to detect explosives at close range.
The stations will also be equipped with Prodders which can be placed in certain isolated or densely populated areas to help officials track and monitor all activities. Bullet-proof jackets will be provided to all officials, keeping in mind the security threat to the country," said KSN Chikkerur, inspector general of police, railways.
