Breakthroughs

Bangalore: Dial for platform taxi at the Bangalore Station

Dread the ‘unfriendly’ railway stations as you plan a train journey with a physically challenged family member or a friend?  If you are boarding from or alighting at Bangalore City Station, you need not worry for help is only a phone call away. Dialing ‘99007 89789’, will just summon a compact,’ four-seater, battery operated car (golf car) that will ferry the disabled persons from one platform to the other free of cost.

With this pilot project of introducing ‘Reva’- a public-private partnership initiative, the South Western Railways has chugged closer towards creating a disabled-friendly service.

“The driver of this special vehicle is accessible on a mobile phone. It enables the customer to intimate the pick-up point and the time of arrival, even as he is on board or starting from home. The facility is hoped to benefit a large number of people and would-be graduates,” said Mr. T N Perti, general manager of SWR who flagged off the service.

The vehicle costing Rs. 4 lac will be run and maintained by a private partner, in exchange for the advertisement space provided to them.

A crying need at this station before popularizing the facility is create adequate infrastructure to run the car. At present, the platforms are linked through over bridges and a subway. But both lack ramps. We want to provide ramps linking the subway (underground passage) to the platforms. However, for the time being, passengers will have to make do with the trolley passage utilized for parcel movement and wheelchairs.

Among the passenger features, the SWR hopes to publicize the mobile phone number of the cars and location of its availability (Platform 1) on its website.

Source: Golf car in railway station. Deccan Herald, Daily, Bangalore, 19 October 2006.