JOIN USSooner or later, you may be able to take a short cut to reach the platforms at the city railway station through subway.
The Railway Board at New Delhi has initiated a project to construct a subway connecting all the six platforms in the station here, at an estimated cost of Rs six crore.
Vinod Kumar, Divisional Railway Manager, South Western Railway, Mysore division said that of the estimated cost, Rs two crore has already been sanctioned to speed up the related works. Tenders have also been invited.
The subway of 1,000 metres length that will connect platform six to one from LIC office side on KRS road towards the station on JLB road, is intended to ease passenger woes within the precincts of the station.
Now, stairs connected to the platforms through skywalk is the only bridge to access the platforms. But not it’s not acceptable to most passengers, especially senior citizens, said another officer.
The wooden stairs at platform one is in use since the inception of the station building during the erstwhile rule of Wadiyars.
A new technology will be incorporated during the construction of subway, without disturbing the movement of trains.
The project that was in the pipeline for the past two years, was finally approved by the Railway Board recently. The SWR headquarters at Hubli has the rights only to consider projects up to Rs two crore. The projects above Rs two crore will be vetted by the headquarters in Delhi.
However, the subway will be in addition to the escalator, which had also been planned a long time ago at the railway station.
When a pre-survey of passengers was conducted, most of the railway users preferred the subway against escalator for the obvious fear of tripping (again in the case of senior citizens) during an emergency.