South Western Railway (SWR) zone's headquarters, Hubballi station, is building a platform which will overtake India's and the world's largest one in Gorakhpur, said an official on Friday.
"Platform number one will be extended from 550 metres length to 1,400 metres with 10 metres width. Presently, Gorakhpur has the longest platform in the world at 1,366 metres," said the railway zone's spokesperson. Gorakhpur is the headquarters of the North Eastern Railway (NER) zone.
The largest platform is coming up as part of the doubling work between Hubballi and Bengaluru, which will raise the number of platforms at the station from five to eight. "Present inspection carriage line is getting converted into the full platform," said the official.
Similarly, one more entrance to the station is being created in addition to the main entrance and the Gadag Road one. Including the signalling, electrical and other works, the yard remodelling work will cost Rs 90 crore.
The renovation is expecting to solve Hubballi's operational constraint of dispatching trains in only one direction at a time. "Work started in November and will be completed in the next one year," she added.
