BENGALURU: The Bengaluru Railway Division will build a Rs 270-crore new depot-cum-workshop near the Thanisandra railway station to maintain sleeper coaches of Vande Bharat, announced Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Bengaluru Railway Division, Parikshit Mohanpuria. These coaches were inspected by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw at a Bharat Earth Movers Limited facility on Saturday.
Briefing newspersons at the DRM office on Sunday evening, Mohanpuria said, “The Railway Board has already given its approval for it. We are now conducting the survey for the workshop. We are expecting the coaches to come here for maintenance by the end of the year and want to keep the workshop ready by then.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually lay the foundation stone for the development of trains here on March 12.
The PM will also flag off the Mysuru-MGR Chennai-Mysuru Vande Bharat Express (Train no. 20663/20664) and the Kalaburagi-SMVT Bengaluru-Kalaburagi Vande Bharat
Express (Train no 22231/22232) along with eight other VB trains across India, he said. The goods shed at Penukonda redeveloped with improved infrastructure will be dedicated to the nation along with a Gati Shakti Multimodal Cargo Terminal at Oddarahalli Near Doddaballapur.
“The terminal will accelerate rail cargo traffic, generating direct and indirect employment opportunities,” he added.
Two Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Kendras (selling generic medicines at cheap prices) will be formally inaugurated by the PM at SMVT Bengaluru and Bangarpet railway stations.
Additionally, One Station One Product stalls will be commissioned at 40 railway stations in the Bengaluru dDivision. An official release listed these following stations among those where the stalls will be commissioned: KSR Bengaluru, Yesvantpur, Bengaluru Cantonment, Krishnarajapuram, Bangarpet, Kuppam, Hindupur, Satya Sai Prashanti Nilayam, Mandya and Tumakuru figure among them.