BENGALURU: Soon, passengers will not face discomfort when they need to wait for long at railway stations. A total of 2,000 stainless steel benches will be installed across 31 stations in the Bengaluru Railway Division.
The Ministry of Railways had in May 2018 announced that one lakh steel benches would be installed in 1,500 railway stations across the country. Tenders were floated in August 2018 and finalised by December.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Divisional Railway Manager, Bengaluru Division, Ashok Kumar Verma said that the installation process will begin by the third week of August and it will be carried out in phases. “We will begin placing them at KSR railway station as it has the maximum footfall,”
he said.
The work is being undertaken by the Station Development Directorate, which comes under the Railway Board. “Tenders have been finalised and a private company, Omax Autos Ltd, has been entrusted with the job for Bengaluru Railway Division,” Verma said.
According to Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Bengaluru Division, N R Sridharamurthy, “The benches will be of various designs to provide maximum comfort to the passenger.” A total of 800 10-seaters with backrests, 600 4-seaters with backrest and without partition, 400 4-seaters without backrest and 200 4-seaters with backrest and seat partition will be installed in the Division.
“KSR will have 360 benches while Yeshwanthpur will have 235 benches. Bengaluru Cantonment will have 130 while Krishnarajapuram will get 124 benches,” he said.