If Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda wants to put the PSU behemoth in shape, he would do well to start from his Bangalore North Lok Sabha constituency.
At Hebbal, a disaster is waiting to happen as hundreds of pedestrians cross the railway tracks, with no safety measures in place, to reach National Highway 7. These pedestrians are at high risk as 36 trains take this route every day.
The railway track slices the only pedestrian pathway across NH7. This is neither considered a manned nor an unmanned level crossing. There used to be a manned rail crossing till the Hebbal flyover was constructed. A foot-over-bridge could easily solve the problem, but has been pending for almost a decade now. While this danger is staring the Minister in the eye, he needs to dig deep to get on top of some other issues. For example, The Hindu has learnt that all files pertaining to Thanisandra Railway Station are untraceable. In his maiden Railway Budget, Mr. Gowda announced measures to boost suburban connectivity, giving wings to hopes of a commuter railway system in the city. Thanisandra station could serve as a vital cog in this system. However, railway officials concede that all files pertaining to this station are untraceable.
Mr. Gowda was not reachable for comments.
