PMO’s order on escalators in railway stations is a shocker

HUBBALLI: A direction from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to the railway ministry to install escalators at only large stations with a minimum footfall of one lakh passengers per day has left many passengers worried.
Passengers say South Western Railway (SWR) has only one station - Bengaluru City- where the footfall crosses one lakh a day. The Hubballi station, the headquarters of SWR, could also be deprived of this facility as the existing ones are under repair and may not be reinstalled, going by the PMO’s order. Even Mysuru and Yeshwantpur stations too are also expected to be deprived of escalators, which are helpful for aged, physically challenged, pregnant women and the general public.

Earlier Railways had announced it would install about 2,500 escalators across the nation at stations with average footfalls of 25,000 a day and annual revenue ranging between Rs 8 crore and Rs 60 crore. The new order will mean many stations will not get escalators.

The Hubballi station had average of 17,636 footfalls in 2012-13 and it is 6.89 million per annum in 2017-18.

Speaking to TOI, Uttam Sathiya, spokesman, Indian Travellers Association, observed that escalator in the Hubballi station has been functioning sporadically. “It was working for a few months after inauguration in November 2016. Later it was switched on only during a particular time. Now we have not seen it functioning many times,” he added.

Expressing concern over the new decision on escalators, he demanded that escalator be retained in Hubballi as it is the zonal headquarter of SWR. “The station should not lose an escalator just because its footfall is lesser that one lakh a day. There should be an exception for zonal headquarters in the new norms,” he opined.

Mahendra Singhi, former member, Zonal Railway Users Consultative Committee, and a railway activist, said if Hubballi loses the escalator, it’s another setback for North Karnataka, particularly Hubballi, which was recently demoted to Non-Suburban Group (NSG)-3 from earlier group-A. “The railway department is behaving like a corporate company and looking at revenue and footfall for all facilities. It is forgetting its social responsibilities. If revenue and footfall is their main motto, they should declare officially that it is a private company,”he said.

Ashok Malipatil, a frequent traveller between Hubballi and Haveri, said that he had once asked officials about defunct escalators at Hubballi station. “They said passengers in Bengaluru and Mysuru are aware about how to use escalators but people in north Karnataka are not that much acquainted with such modern facilities. Such attitude of officials is pushing the Hubballi station towards regress,” he said.

Mysuru and Yeshwantpur to lose out?

As per SWR’s website, 10 escalators are functioning under SWR limits. Yeshwantpur had average 86,000 footfalls a day while Mysuru had 19,016 in 2012-13. “The footfall might have increased at Yeshwantpur but Mysuru can’t reach get to one lakh in the near future,” said an official.