Title - Several railway gifts for the Bangalore, this year

Here is some good news for railway passengers who find it difficult to climb the staircase near the Comesum restaurant at the City Railway Station. Soon, the South Western Railways will provide two escalators adjacent to the stair case.

If everything goes as per plan, the work which is under progress will be completed within a month. Thousands of railway passengers use the stair case to reach various platforms at the City Railway Station. Among them, senior citizens and those who carry luggage,
struggle a lot to climb the stair case during peak hours. ”The escalator facility will be a great help for passengers, especially senior citizens and women. I expect the railways to complete the work as early as possible,’’ said Shanmuga Sundaram, a passenger.

According to railway sources, the work to put up the escalators was commenced a few months ago and is expected to be completed by this month end, but if the tardy progress is any indication, it seems like the railway authorities need more time to complete the work.

The sources privy to railways said the lack of space for the movement of a crane to lift the equipment was a huge obstacle. ”The equipment has already arrived. We have to fix it and it needs some more time, due to some technical hassles,’’ said a railway official on condition of anonymity.

Work is also under progress at platform number five and six to put up escalator there too.

”Each of the escalator costs `45 lakh (including installation and electrification expenditure). Putting up an escalator may be a first for Bangalore’s City Railway Station but such facilities already exist at Secunderabad and Chennai railway stations. We expect the work at Bangalore City Railway Station to be completed by June,’’ said Devendra Dutta Mishra, senior divisional electrical engineer, South Western Railways.

The railway sources said that these escalators were sanctioned by the then railway minister Mamata Banerjee, in her railway budget 2009. Tenders were invited for the installation of the escalators in last December. When asked about providing similar facilities at other railway stations in Bangalore, Mishra said that the railway board is yet to take a decision on this.