The construction of platforms 4 and 5 at the Mangaluru Central Railway Station will be completed by March 2022. This will address the shortage of platforms in the station pending for long, said Southern Railway’s Palakkad Divisional Railway Manager Trilok Kothari here on Sunday.
Talking to reporters after the inauguration of a bottle-crushing machine installed at the railway station, Mr. Kothari said the construction of the new platforms will be taken up after the new pit line, which holds 24 coaches, under construction is ready. This new pit line is being constructed in lieu of the existing 18-coach pit line. A pit line is used for conducting maintenance of express and passenger trains. With two new platforms, the Manglauru Central railway station can handle more trains, Mr. Kothari said.
On allowing the train from Vijayapura to Mangaluru Central, Mr. Kothari it has to be decided by the Railway Board. The official said changes in timetable of trains depends on availability of platform.
Earlier, Dakshina Kannada Member of Parliament Nalin Kumar Kateel inaugurated the new bottle-crushing machine. The Malabar Gold contributed ₹2 lakh from their corporate social responsibility funds towards the installation of the machine.
Asking people to make good use of the machine, Mr. Kateel said he is working towards further improvement of railway infrastructure in the region.