Railway Minister M. Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday said work on constructing maintenance facilities at the Binny Mill land adjacent to the Bangalore City railway station would commence by February.
Speaking to presspersons here after visiting the Rail Wheel Factory at Yelahanka here, Mr. Kharge said the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has already acquired 3.5 acres of land. It is in the process of handing over the land to the South Western Railway (SWR) in lieu of railway land given to the BBMP to execute the Okalipuram signal-free corridor, the Minister said.
The Ministry has earmarked about Rs. 20 crore towards undertaking construction work, including of pitlines and maintenance facilities out of its own savings, Mr. Kharge said.
Once this is done, maintenance facilities around the City station would be shifted to the Binny Mill land, he said.
Capacity augmentation Once the Binny Mill maintenance facilities are ready, in about a year, the handling capacity of the City railway station would increase at least by 50 per cent. Thereby more new trains could be introduced, Mr. Kharge said.
At present, both the City and Yeshwanthpur railway stations are saturated and no new trains could be introduced. The SWR therefore is in the process of remodelling the Yelahanka railway station too at a cost of Rs. 18 crore. More platforms would be added in this station facilitating operation of new trains, Mr. Kharge said.
Facilities are also being created at the Banaswadi railway station for maintenance, inspection and stabling of electrical multiple unit trains, the Minister added.
World class station To a question on including Bangalore in the pilot project of world-class stations, Mr. Kharge said he is in dialogue with IRCON. The inclusion depends upon the availability of funds and he would make efforts to include Bangalore in the pilot project, he added.
Rail Wheel Factory general manager Rajeev Bhargav, Adesh Sharma, chief administrative officer (Construction), SWR, and Bangalore divisional railway manager A.K. Agarwal were present.
