Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi had had a hectic weekend in Belagavi and Hubballi and some towns in between.
He travelled to Hubballi with senior officials by train and held a meeting onboard. He stopped at all stations in-between to receive requests and complaints from travellers and associations.
He began his day by inspecting the overbridge at the Kapileshwar temple. He asked railway officials to provide a subway or a lift for the benefit of pedestrians. Only vehicles are allowed to use the overbridge now.
At the railway station, he advised the officials to create a museum or heritage room on the platform no 1 to showcase the rich history of Belagavi. Officials told him that work on the new station building with a second entry would begin soon.
He spent a few minutes in the engine room and spoke to the loco pilots. Later, he carried out the window trailing inspection and held a three-hour-long meeting with officials sitting in the last bogie with French windows that provided a view of the train tracks.
Several issues were discussed during the meeting. He asked officials to grow gardens on empty land to prevent encroachments and avoid creation of slums and give the gardens to institutions, including Indian Air Force, for maintenance.
When he urged South Western Railway General Manager Ajay Kumar Singh to give priority to goods transport, the officer replied that it was being given top priority and it had grown by around 20 % over the last year. The Minister asked officials to speed up doubling and electrification works in the Londa-Miraj section. Mr. Singh told the Minister that the Railways had drawn up plans to double the entire track between Hubballi and Bengaluru.
He asked them to shift the goods shed and container depot to Sambra and set up a coaching depot near the railway station. When Mr. Angadi asked Mr. Singh to start a new train between Belagavi and Goa, Mr. Singh requested him to seek a sanction of a new rake from the Railway Board.
In Alnavar, he agreed to a demand for a pedestrian overbridge between platforms. Passengers thanked him for restarting the train between Hubballi and Belagavi and requested that the Vasco-Howrah train stopped at Alnavar. Some passengers complained that officials in the railway station were not responsive. They kept the telephone off the hook to avoid calls, one passenger said. Another said that a station master wasted his time playing video games during office hours.
The Minister also spoke to passengers at Londa and received some requests. He later held a works review meeting with officers of South Western Railway at Rail Soudha in Hubballi. He gave directions to open the Kottur-Hosapete line and the Alnavar-Ambewadi line for passenger traffic at the earliest.
Officers B.B. Singh, Additional General Manager, Rajesh Mohan, Divisional Railway Manager, B.G. Mallya, Principal Chief Electrical Engineer, and others were present.