Railway authorities urged to hold IRTTC meet in Hubballi

Former KCCI president writes to Railway Minister

Taking exception to a reported decision of railway authorities on holding the Inter Railway Time Table Coordination (IRTTC) conference in Bengaluru, Vasant Ladawa, former president, Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), urged them to hold it in Hubballi, the zonal railway headquarters for South Western Railway.

In a letter written to Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal, which was released to the media on Saturday, Mr. Ladawa questioned the rationale behind holding the IRTTC at a division office instead of the zonal HQ. He said he has learnt from reliable sources that IRTTC in its last meeting between February 25 and 27 at Puri, had decided to hold the conference in Karnataka in the last week of February 2020.

However, it was surprising that Bengaluru which housed a divisional office had been preferred over Hubballi much to the shock of the people of North Karnataka, he said. He added that not a single IRTTC conference had been held in Hubballi, ever since it became zonal railway HQ for South Western Railway in 2003.

He said, “Hubli Junction is the central place for transportation in Karnataka that connects the North West to Mumbai, West to Goa, South to Bengaluru and East to Hyderabad with heavy mass transportation. It is the busiest railway station in Karnataka after Bengaluru and one of the top booking stations on Indian Railways”.

Mr. Ladawa urged the Railway Minister to take immediate steps to issue necessary directions to the authorities to hold the conference in Hubballi.

Annual event

The IRTTC conference is held every year for finalisation of timetables and discussion inter alia on trains to be considered for introduction, extensions and increase in frequency.

It will also be an occasion for evolving strategies for zero based time tabling, standardisation of rakes, augmentation/rationalisation of composition of existing train services based on patronisation, utilisation of existing lie-overs to enable maximise passenger earning by improving vehicle km and providing additional services with improved punctuality and better facilities, he said in the release.