Mangaluru Central railway station to get second entrance

by news
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March 25, 2015

Mangaluru: Pending upgrading of one of the two Railway Stations in the city into world-class, the Mangalore Central railway station is set to get better facilities as the Southern Railway (SR) has proposed to build infrastructure at a second entrance to the station, from Attavar side.

The Attavar-side entrance of the Mangalore Central railway station will soon become an authorised second entrance.— Photo: H.S. Manjunath

The second entry at present provides unauthorised entry/exit to and from the station, even as hundreds of passengers make use of this route to avoid the congested main entrance. It is also said that many people use this point for unauthorised loading/unloading of parcels.

Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Palakkad Division, Anand Prakash told The Hindu that the Southern Railway headquarters had agreed to the proposal, which was now awaiting nod from the Railway Board. A full-fledged second entry would considerably ease the load on the main entry and would also benefit the passengers, he said.

To be taken up at a cost of about Rs. 11 crore, the second entry would have almost all the facilities required for passengers. It would have current ticket issuing counters, advance ticket booking counters, adequate circulating area and vehicle parking facility, he said.

A foot-over-bridge too would be built, equipped with escalators for easy movement of passengers from one end to the other, Mr. Prakash added. One more platform, in the form of an island platform, would also be constructed during the process, he said. The station has three platforms at present.

Describing the proposal as the one addressing a much-needed facility, social activist G. Hanumanth Kamath, said commuters in Mangaluru had been demanding these facilities for quite a few years. Besides plugging revenue leakage due to unauthorised entry/exit of passengers and parcels, the second entry would help people from the other parts of the city, he said.

Mr. Kamath alleged that the SR had been indifferent to augment facilities at the Mangalore Central railway station with the fear that it would have to operate more trains to and from Mangaluru. Constant persuasion had resulted in this new development, he said.