KSR Bengaluru railway station returns to the SWR fold

The dissolution of the Indian Railway Stations Growth Company has returned the KSR Bengaluru prepare station to the South Western Railway (SWR). 

The choice to wind up the IRSDC was taken by the railway ministry, and the Railway Board has notified the identical to the related authorities. 

“All stations managed by IRSDC shall be handed over to respective zonal railways,” the board’s deputy director stated in a letter. Pending initiatives and associated paperwork ought to be transferred to the zonal authorities, he added. The choice has given hope that railway authorities will now concentrate on enhancing passenger facilities slightly than on the commercialisation of prepare stations. 

The IRSDC managed the station operations at KRS Bengaluru and launched value-added companies like aquarium. In September, the IRSDC invited bids for constructing Rail Arcade, a 24X7 procuring area on 15,000 sq. ft of open land on the entrance of the station, a transfer opposed by activists. 

The venture will now be handed over to the SWR, an IRSDC official. “It’s left to the railway authorities to determine on the way forward for the venture,” he added. 

City transport activist Sanjeev Dyamannavar stated the railways should cease the rising commercialisation of its premises and as an alternative concentrate on offering facilities to passengers. 

“The SWR ought to instantly scrap the Rail Arcade venture. Constructing a procuring centre on the entrance or exit street is completely unscientific. No different railway station with such restricted area has gone for such initiatives,” he stated.