New Delhi: The railway station at Karnataka’s Hubballi will soon be transformed into the world’s longest railway platform by the Indian railways, said a report.
As per a report in the Deccan Herald, the longest railway platform in Hubballi—the commercial capital of the state and the headquarters of South Western Railway (SWR) will be built in a year.
Now, the length of the platform is 550 metres, and it was earlier decided to increase it to 1,400 metres. However, later the SWR later decided to increase the length to 1,505 metres. The platform’s extension is being estimated to cost around Rs 90 crore and the renovation work is expected to be completed by the end of January 2021.
On going yard remodelling work at Hubballi railway station which will have the world’s longest railway platform within one year, when the existing 550 metre long Platform No 1 will be extended upto 1,400 metre. @SWRRLY @KARailway @Hubballi_Infra @HubliCityeGroup @HubballiRailway pic.twitter.com/NB3LFxbgLY
— Hubballi Rail Users (@Hublirailusers) October 2, 2020
At present, the 1,366 metre-long platform in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur, which is the headquarters of the North-Eastern Railway (NER), is the longest railway platform in the world and it was renovated in 2013.
Chief public relation officer of SWR, E Vijaya said, “The work was expected to be completed in June, but there was shortage of labourers due to Covid-19 situation. Now, more than 250 labourers are working, and the project will be completed by January end.”
Earlier in June, speaking to TOI, Vijaya said that the work work is being done as part of doubling between Hubballi and Bengaluru. “At present, Hubballi has five platforms, and the number will be increased to eight. Inspection carriage line is getting converted to full platform . Platform No. 1 will be extended from 550m to 1,400m with 10m width.” the officer said .