Railways to remodify Covid Care Centre coaches to transport vegetables

Bengaluru Divisional Railway Manager Ashok Kumar Verma says the remodification requires 'only minor work'

As many as 320 railway coaches that were converted into Covid Care Centres will be remodified to transport perishables like vegetables as authorities hardly found any use for them during the height of the pandemic.

Bengaluru Divisional Railway Manager Ashok Kumar Verma, who briefed mediapersons regarding the resuming of trains, said the remodification will need only minor work.

He said the running six pairs of trains for 10 days from December 7 to 17, except for Sunday, will help the railways analyse the demand and travel pattern based on decision will be taken to extend the operations.

While passengers can travel on the six pairs of trains without reservation, the existing trains will continue to be run on the basis of reservation. "There is no plan to resume unreserved travel option on the other trains," he said, adding that occupancy on most of the trains were near 100% with trains from Bengaluru to Mysuru and Hubballi seeing growth in ridership.

Airport halt station in two weeks

The DRM said that the halt station at the airport, funded by the Bangalore International Airport Limited, will be made operational next week, but did not give details of the number of trains proposed to be run on the section.

"There were three pairs of trains running on the section and we intend to double it," he said, adding that further details will be shared once the South Western Railway gets approval from the Railway Board.

Byappanahalli terminal named after Visvesvaraya

The upcoming Byappanahalli terminal, to be opened in February, has been named after visionary engineer Sir M Visvesvaraya. The state government issued a formal order renaming the terminal, which is expected to decongest the KSR Bengaluru station and boost the suburban train operations, as Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal, Bengaluru.