Mangaluru : Southern Railway general manager R.N. Singh on Wednesday informed Minister of State for Railways V. Somanna that the redevelopment of Mangaluru Central railway station proposed at an estimated cost of Rs. 312 crore should start by March next.

Mr. Singh told an inter-railway zone meeting chaired by Mr. Somanna that the detailed project report was ready and would be submitted to the Ministry soon. Once the Ministry approves and allocates funds, tenders would be floated. As per the plan, the contractor should be in place by March and the work should get completed within three years.

Mr. Somanna said he would ensure the work gets completed in two years if he continues in the office as the Minister of State for Railways. Mr. Singh also told the meeting two more platforms, PF 4 and 5, were being constructed at Mangaluru junction while additional stabling lines would be built at Central and Junction to avoid empty rake movement to the Old Goods Shed at Bunder. The zone would also examine construction of a railway over/under bridge at Pandeshwar level crossing as demanded by Mangaluru City South MLA D. Vedavyasa Kamath, he added.

Responding to the demand of Dakshina Kannada MP Captain Brijesh Chowta and Mangaluru City North MLA Y. Bharath Shetty to shift the Ro-Ro facility from Surathkal to Thokur, KRCL Chairman and Managing Director Santhosh Kumar Jha said it was possible. But the State government should provide required lands as the KRCL would need it to create parking facilities for trucks. The corporation would also spend over Rs. 4 crore this fiscal towards passenger amenities in Karnataka, he added.

As a general direction, Mr. Somanna told the zones not to halt completion of any railway over/under bridge for non-payment of State government share. The works should be completed by Railways funds that could be recovered later, he said.

Mr. Somanna, responding to Capt. Chowta’s concern over shifting the terminal station for Train No. 16511/12 KSR Bengaluru-Kannur-KSR Bengaluru Express via Mangaluru Central from KSR Bengaluru to Sir M. Visvesvaraya Terminal Byappanahalli, directed SWR officials to rescind the decision. Though officials said it was only for 154 days to complete redevelopment work of Yeshwantpur Station, Capt. Chowta said the terminal for the only train to Mangaluru should not be shifted at all.

Capt. Chowta also demanded capacity augmentation of the Subrahmanya Road-Sakleshpur Ghat section to speed up services saying it was amusing that trains, goods and freight, from Mangaluru to Bengaluru (350 km) still take 11 hours at this age. MLC Manjunath Bhandary demanded Mangaluru-Chennai train via Bengaluru to save nearly two hours journey time from the present via Coimbatore route.