MP Suresh Angadi laid the foundation stone for a new railway station and a foot overbridge at Ghataprabha in Belagavi district on Tuesday.
These works are part of line doubling between Londa and Miraj, which is in progress, according to Mr. Angadi.
Once the project is completed in the next two years, the railway network in this area will be strengthened further to handle increasing traffic, the MP said.
He said that the total cost of projects was ₹ 4.2 crore.
The new station will be a three-storeyed building, including the basement.
It will have various passenger amenities such as circulating area with parking facilities for cars, autorickshaws and two-wheelers, two counters for dispensing with unreserved tickets, enquiry counters, an air-conditioned waiting hall, waiting halls for men and women, a VIP lounge, retiring rooms and a food plaza.
The new foot overbridge will facilitate easy inter-platform movement for passengers. It will be three metres wide with ramps on both sides. A 540-metre-long high-level platform will come up.
Ajay Kumar Singh, General Manager of South Western Railway, Rajesh Mohan, Hubballi Divisional Railway Manager, Prem Narayan, Chief Engineer, Construction, E. Vijaya, Deputy General Manager, I. Senthil Kumar, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Sujata Pujeri, Mallapur Town Panchayat president, Sunanda Kardesai, president of Gokak Taluk Panchayat, and others were present.
As many as 4,300 passengers use the 80-year-old Ghataprabha station every day. It earns around ₹ 2.4 lakh per day.
It is considered a non-sub-urban group — category five station.
It is on the Londa-Miraj railway line and is well connected to Bengaluru, Mysuru and Mumbai. It is part of the Hubballi division of the South Western Railway zone.
