SWR to spend ` 11.76 cr on passenger amenities: DRM

South Western Railway (SWR), Mysuru, will spend Rs 11.76 crore on the improvement of basic amenities for passengers at various stations of the division during the year 2015-16.

Addressing media here on Friday, Divisional Railway Manager, SWR, Mysuru division, Rajkumar Lal, said that of the total amount, Rs two crore will be set aside to provide facilties for differently abled passengers, by constructing standard ramps at 32 railway stations of the division.

The platforms in Mysuru city railway station is also expected to see improvement during the year, as it has been planned to extend platforms two and three, followed by the shelter at platforms four and five.

The division will spend Rs 1.67 crore on Arsikere railway station, which includes works to improve platform surface and to extend platform shelter, followed by Shivamogga town railway station, where there has been an increase in passenger density, at an estimated cost of Rs 1.57 crore. Apart from the two railway stations, minor works on platform shelters will be taken up at 18 stations, at an estimated cost of Rs 1.19 crore, he said.

As a measure to reduce power usage, poles with Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) lamps, will be installed in platform and circulating area of stations, at an estimated cost of Rs 1.04 crore, followed by Rs 1.62 crore on extending platforms at 30 stations, to accomodate the longest trains at the station.

Funds have also been set aside to construct retiring rooms at Subramanya ( Rs 12 lakh), raising and extending platform at Haveri (Rs 62.91 lakh), provision of additional seating arrangements at stations (Rs 52 lakh) and construction of platform toilets at 17 stations (Rs 65 lakh).

Augmentation
Noting that augmentation of composition of trains has been done in trains such as Nizamuddin Swarnajayanthi weekly express, Mysuru-Chennai Shatabdi express, Shivamogga Town-Bengaluru express, Lal said that proposals have been sent to zonal headquarters to augment other important trains.

To increase capacity in reserved segment, two sleeper coaches each in Basava express to Bagalkot, Golgumbaz express to Solapur, Hampi express to Hubli, Mayiladuthurai express, Tuticorin express and Tirupathi fast passenger have been proposed.

Apart from it, there is a proposal to add one sleeper and A/C 3-tier in Cauvery express to Chennai, one A/C 3-tier and 2 sleeper coaches in Sharavati and Chalukya express; one sleeper in Howrah weekly express, one A/C 3-tier each in Karwar express and Ajmer bi-weekly express, said Lal.

There are also proposals to increase the number of Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) in the division, by installing them at various stations of the division, he said.