Title - ‘Provide land to make Mangalore Central a world-class station’

Minister of State for Railways K.H. Muniyappa on Monday said that bridges would be constructed at Padil and Jeppu-Kutpadi railway level crossings as soon as the State government deposited 50 per cent of the project cost with the Railways.He told presspersons here that the Railways was willing to construct the bridges and was awaiting release of funds by the local body or the State government. On being told that Mangalore City Corporation did not have funds, he said the civic body could get funds from the State government. He pointed out that the State government was providing its share of funds for many projects. The two projects needed Rs. 9 crore and the State government had to give only Rs. 4.5 crore. “This is not a big amount for the government,” he said.Mr. Muniyappa said the State government should make land available at the Mangalore Central Railway Station to implement a project to convert it into a world-class station. He said a minimum of five acres of land was needed and what the Mangalore central station had was only two acres. If land was provided at the Mangalore Railway Junction Station, it could be developed into a world-class station.The Minister asserted that the plan to develop a world-class station in Mangalore had not been shelved. He referred to Byappanahalli station in Bangalore which would be developed into a world-class station. Adequate land was available there and the Railways had no constraints in going ahead with the project, he said.The Minister asked a Konkan Railway official to study the possibility of developing a full-fledged station at Thokur as it is located near Mangalore Airport which has been accorded international airport status and is gearing up to house a cargo complex.He said that he would look into the long-pending demand for grant of permission from the Railways to construct a new bridge across the tracks in Baikampady.Mr. Muniyappa indicated that when the Yeshwantpur-Kannur Express train would be split in Mangalore and extended up to Karwar, Mangaloreans using it would have to alight or get into it at Mangalore Junction. At present, the train arrives at the Mangalore Central Station.He said there were difficulties in operating it from the Mangalore Central Station. Brushing aside complaints that a decision to operate the extended service from Mangalore Junction would cause hardship to people, he said he did not understand why they found it difficult to go to Mangalore Junction to take the train. He said Mangalore Junction was very much a part of Mangalore. He, however, agreed that the station needed some development.

The Minister was here to supervise the arrangements for the visit of AICC president Sonia Gandhi.