Railway Minister M. Mallikarjun Kharge has said that besides developing Yelahanka as the third terminus railway station in Bangalore, the Bangalore City Railway Station will also be expanded by acquiring 3.5 acres of land within the vicinity of the the station itself.
Addressing a press conference after renaming the Narayanpet Road Railway Station as Saidapur Railway Station at Saidapur village, 30 km from here on Saturday, Mr. Kharge said the Railways has already deposited Rs. 80 crore with the State government for the acquisition of the land.
He said once the land is handed over to the Railways, the new space would be used for maintenance and repair of engines and wagons. The vacated space in the Bangalore City Station would then be used for parking more passenger trains and also to increase the frequencies of trains running between Bangalore-Mysore and to distant centres such as New Delhi.
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He said there has been heavy demand for introduction of new trains from different centres owing to Bangalore being the IT hub of the country.
The Bangalore City Railway Station and the Yeshwantpur station had reached saturation point.
Mr. Kharge said developing Yelahanka as the third terminus station for Bangalore has become imperative, and the work of extending the existing platforms and constructing approach roads have already begun.
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To a question on the commercial exploitation of prime railway land available in the country, Mr. Kharge said the Railways has adopted a cautious approach.It would explore the feasibility of leasing out the lands to developers instead of transferring land on ownership basis to them.
Mixed cooling system
Mr. Kharge said the Railways would be introducing mixed cooling system in the Gulbarga, Raichur, Bijapur and Yadgir Railway stations on the lines of the cooling system in New Delhi and Lucknow railway stations. It would amount to an investment of Rs. 8 lakh each in the four railway stations.