Daijiworld Media Network – Sullia (SP)

Sullia, Mar 16: The top officials and technical team of the railways have the given green signal for running of the day train between Mangalore and Bangalore on a daily basis. The Railway Board is expected to take a decision after their report is submitted to them in a few days from now.

General manager of south western railways, Kuldip Chaturvedi, however said that the train may start running on this route on a daily basis, only if it gets the nod in the supplementary budget of the railways. At the same time, Chaturvedi hastened to add that he cannot make any commitment about the daily run of the train, as his team is expected to report about the safety of the railway line, adding that the technical team has okayed the daily run of the train. A team led by Chaturvedi, comprising over 200 officials and technicians, arrived in a special train to inspect facilities at Donigal, Edakumeri, and Arebetta railway stations before visiting Subrahmanya railway station in the taluk.

At Subrahmanya, Chaturvedi said that steps will soon be taken to upgrade facilities like rest room for commuters, toilets, and platforms. Questioned about the less number of compartments in the night train on this route, he said precautions have to be taken as this happens to be a Ghat route.

During the visit of the team, railway stations and toilets between Donigal and Subrahmanya underwent a thorough cleaning, and flower pots were neatly laid out. In every station, as soon as the railway officials left, the pots were transported by truck to the next station to arrange them there before the team reached there. This made the commuters to hope that such teams will visit these stations often.

Chief engineer of the division, D G Divate, Mysore division manager, B V Varma, some local representatives, and hundreds of railway commuters were present.