Mangaluru Junction to be a world class railway station soon

Mangaluru, Nov 8: With the Southern Railways and Mangaluru City Corporation commencing land survey, the proposal to convert Mangalulu Junction railway station into 'World Class Railway Station' has gained momentum.

Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar chairing a meeting of railway officials here on Saturday said that World Class Railway Station will be reality soon after the MCC completes acquiring land and State government gives its nod for the same.

The world class station requires minimum of 100 acre land. The Railways already have 63 acre land. Hence, the MCC has been asked to conduct a survey and acquire the needed land for the purpose near the railway station. The work on the prposal will be accelerated if the MCC completes the land acquisition process and State government gives its nod for the same,” he added.

The MP said that the railway station will be developed on par with the international standards. The railway ministry has already decided to implement the project under PPP mode.

As per the Railway's plan, it requires a 15 metre wide approach road. The city corporation has already started the survey of the land for road at Nagori.

With the city corporation handing over Rs 3.61 crore to Southern Railways, the work of Road Under Bridge (RUB) in lieu of level crossing at Jeppu Kudpady will commence soon and it will be completed by June, 2015. Survey will be conducted to find a solution to problems at Thokkottu, the MP said.

He said that the bridge at Baikampady will be completed by February end and at Bantwal by January end. With the closure of Baikampady railway gate, the residents are facing inconvenience. Hence, the railways have been directed to solve the problem at the earliest, to ensure that no inconvenience is met at the residents. A RUB will come up at Haleyangadi at an estimated cost of Rs 4.5 crore on a cost sharing basis by the State government and Konkan Railways Corporation.

“I have placed the proposal of ROB near Puttur APMC and Vivekananda College. The work on Puttur Adarsh Railway Station will be completed by December end. Two railway platforms worth Rs two crore will be built and will be completed by February. The proposal on extension of platforms at Bantwal and Neralakatte has been submitted. Tender has been invited for the construction of toilets at Subrahmanya railway station,” the MP said.

Nalin Kumar Kateel directed the officials to reduce the running timings of Karwar-Mangalore-Bangalore train by one hour.

Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd Public Relations Officer (Mangalore) Sudha Krishnamurthy said “measures have been initiated to clean Suratjkal railway station. To check the inconvenience met by the locals owing to Ro-Ro service, additional railway police will be deployed.”