South Western Railway (SWR) has opened a free emergency medical centre at Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna railway station. The centre, on platform I, is being run by Manipal Hospital as part of its CSR programme.
After inaugurating the centre on Wednesday, Ashok Kumar Verma, Divisional Railway Manager, Bengaluru Division, said: “In emergency cases, timely medical treatment is very crucial. The centre will provided the required first-aid for patients and they will be shifted to nearby hospital for advanced treatment.”
The centre will work around-the-clock. Doctors and other staff will work in three shifts.
The SWR had opened an emergency medical centre in 2011, but the hospital running the centre discontinued the service two years ago.
SWR had recently called for expression of interest to opening the new centre.
General Manager of South Western Railway, A.K. Singh, said efforts will be made to extend the facility to other stations in the Bengaluru Division. The SWR is hoping that popular hospitals would show interest in opening centres.
Officials claim that the unreserved ticketing system on mobile serviced launched in February, 2018 has received good response passengers. In 2018-19, 31 lakh passengers have booked unreserved/ season tickets using the app.
The app generated ₹2.84 crore revenue for the Bengaluru Division. In April, 2019 more than 4 lakh passengers booked tickets using mobile app.