Longer wait for escalators at City railway station

Passengers at the City railway station will have to wait for another three months to use escalators as deadline to set up the facility has been extended.

The Railway officials, who had set the deadline of mid-April to commission four escalators, blamed the contractor and technical glitches for the delay in executing the much-awaited project. 

“Making concrete pits, digging, laying the steps, procuring escalators are some of the problems we are facing. To add to our woes, the contractor to whom the Railway Board has awarded the work, is a bit slow. Also, workers need to be cautious at the work site as the traffic flow is always high and the station is pretty old. We have started the work, but it is still in the initial stage,” said a railway official, on condition of anonymity.

The proposal to set up the escalators was made in the Railway budget in 2009. However, the Bangalore division of Railways invited the tenders only in December 2012 and procured the escalators in January 2013, sources in the department said. 

A total of four escalators would be installed on the station premises, which includes two next to stairs near platform 1, one each at platforms 5 and 4. While each escalator will cost Rs 30 lakh, the installation charges and other works are estimated to cost around Rs 16 lakh, said the railway officials.

Railway authorities hope that the escalators, once operational, will be useful especially to the elderly, pregnant women, children and the physically handicapped.

At present, passengers have to climb the stairs to reach the respective platforms through the subway nestled near the entrance of platform 1.

Another escalator that was sanctioned in he railway budget was proposed to come up at Yeshwantpur railway station. The railway authorities had earlier maintained that the work of installing escalators at the station would be completed by June 15. However, the work is yet to commence, sources said.