Railways urged to build new station in Ballari

Taking note of a few major trains bypassing Ballari Railway Station and causing inconvenience to passengers, civil society organisations have urged the Indian Railways to establish a new railway station in Ballari.

Representatives of Karnataka State Railway Action Committee, District Bar Association, Veerashaiva Vidyavardhaka Sangha, Kannada Sahitya Parishat, Tungabhadra Raita Sangha, Karnataka Jana Kalyana Rakshana Vedike and Karnataka Vignana Parishat met Transport Minister and Ballari in-charge B. Sriramulu, Ballari Lok Sabha member Y. Devendrappa and Ballari MLA G. Somashekhar Reddy in Ballari on Sunday and submitted a memorandum on the issue.

Speaking to The Hindu, K.M. Mahesharaswamy, president of Karnataka State Railway Action Committee, said that trains running on Chitradurga-Hosapete line bypass Ballari Railway Station forcing commuters to go all the way to Ballari Cantonment to board them.

“Ballari Railway Station is a junction having four broad gauge lanes connecting Guntakal, Hubballi, Chitradurga and Hosapete, with Ballari. Trains running on Chitradurga-Hosapete line avoid Ballari Railway Station. If a new station is built at the bypass, it will be of great help to passengers,” Mr. Maheshwaraswamy said.

He also demanded that railway authorities run the Hosapete-Bengaluru-Hosapete train (06243/06244) via Ballari Railway Station till the new bypass railway station is built.

“As many as 80 passenger trains and 100 goods trains pass through Ballari every day. The three platforms available in the Ballari Railway Station cannot handle the railway traffic. It needs another three platforms. Also, closing railway level crossing gates near Ballari Radio Park (LC-111), Sudha Gate near Cantonment (LC-110) and Veerashaiva College Gate (LC-109) for facilitating train movement is causing incontinence to the public and creating traffic congestion. Though a railway overbridge has been built at LC-111, the State government has not commenced work for giving connectivity even a year after the project was completed. The officials concerned should immediately address these issues by building new overbridges and commissioning the one that has already been built,” Mr. Mahesharaswamy said.