TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Saturday announced upgradation of Tivim railway station, inaugurated the Disaster Management Centre at Margao and laid the foundation stone for a lake resort at Karmali.
Speaking after laying the foundation stone for the lake project at Karmali on Saturday in the presence of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, Dy CM Francis D’Souza, Union Minister Sripad Naik and MPs, Prabhu unveiled the upgradation plan for the Tivim station, saying a Master Plan has been developed for improving the facilities at this station.
The upgradation work includes construction of two additional loop lines, construction of new platform on the eastern side, construction of new foot over bridge, additional parking area and easy entry to the platforms, and re-modeling of reservation counter, restaurant and VIP lounge at an estimated cost of Rs 10 crore.
Facilities in the pipeline at Tivim station include installation of escalator, bio-toilets, additional platform shelter and modular shelters, better platform surfacing, and modular platform shelter.
The lake resort will be managed as a rail hotel available at subsidized rates for employees to spend vacation with their family members. It will be available for all employees of Indian Railways. The vacant rooms can be allotted to other tourists on commercial tariff.
Goa being a major centre for tourists and Karmali being its serving railway station, it was felt appropriate to have a lake resort here. The lake resort along with its landscape gardens has been designed in such a way that each room will be overlooking the lake and the gardens.
The master plan provides for 100 rooms. To start with 34 rooms will be constructed in phase-I.
The Railway Minister also inaugurated the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) of Konkan Railway located at Margao which has been constructed as a precaution against a potential disaster accruing in case of failure of the existing OFC cable connectivity that controls all the train operations from Central Control Room at Belapur, Navi Mumbai. Being centrally located and an important junction on the KR route, Margao station was selected for housing the DMC. The Centre consists of Control Boards for train movement, Controls for service departments, display screens, support logistics etc. This Centre will ensure a safe and secure service to rail users.
Prabhu also inaugurated the Interpretation Centre located at Karmali station on the second platform overlooking the Carambolim lake.
The architecture and usage plans for this structure will be a first of its kind for a station in this country. This will be at an elevated level from where one can get a panoramic view of the lake and will be an ideal spot for viewing of birds nesting there.
A restaurant is also planned here which can be used by both passengers and bird lovers. The structure itself will act as a shelter for passengers waiting below. The access planned to the interpretation centre is from the existing FOB.
