The Baiyappanahalli coaching terminal is unlikely to complete construction work by 31 March 2020.
By Ritam Chatterjee and Shalu Chowrasia
Bengaluru: The deadline for the proposed terminal at Cantonment Railway Station at Baiyappanahhali has been delayed once again to May. “There is no point in inaugurating the terminal without the construction being completed. We will be shifting 32 pairs of trains at the terminal and nearly one lakh people will be using it by the end of May,” Union Minister of State for Railways, Suresh Angadi told the reporters at the inaugural event of flagging the Shivamogga-Chennai-Shivamogga Tatkal Express from weekly to bi-weekly.
He added that the terminal is expected to decongest Yeshwantpur and Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna railway stations.
The deadline has been postponed for the fourth time. Earlier, December 2018, March 2019 and June 2019 were the deadlines that the Railways had set. The project was started in 2013. Mr. Angadi, in August 2019, had warned the railway officials to meet the deadline lest they will be facing serious consequences.
The civil engineer from the Department of South Western Railways (SWR), Bengaluru division, I. B. Jha, told The Softcopy, “Most of the construction work like platform flooring and shelter works are still pending. Right now, we are not sure that we will finish all the work before the deadline.”
In January 2020, a news report mentioned that SWR is going to allow private firms to operate long-distance trains once the third-coaching terminal begins.
“Construction work has progressed in the last two or three weeks, hopefully, it will end before May ends,” Chief Public Relations Officer, SWR Bengaluru, E Vijaya, told The Softcopy.
At the event, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, inaugurated the Shivamogga-Chennai-Shivamogga Tatkal Express from weekly to bi-weekly, increasing the frequency of trains.
