The Hindu : Karnataka News : Railway station at Porkodi will increase access to Bajpe airport

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 17, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

Railway station at Porkodi will increase access to Bajpe airport

Raviprasad Kamila

Airport will be linked to the southern and northern parts of the country through the Konkan railway line

MANGALORE: Bajpe and nearby areas will emerge as a satellite town of Mangalore if the Konkan railway line, which passes through Porkodi on the way to the Bajpe airport from here, is properly exploited.

At present the Bajpe airport is 22 km from Mangalore. Under the proposal to upgrade the airport to international standards, the passenger terminal is expected to come up on the Maravoor bridge side of the airport where a defunct building called Dakkan Park is located. If that happens, it will reduce the distance between the airport and the city by 8 km. Porkodi, on the Konkan railway line, is just 3 km from the proposed passenger terminal.

If a railway station is built at Porkodi, the Bajpe airport will be linked to the southern and northern parts of the country through the Konkan railway line.

Work on the new runway is scheduled to be completed by December. The State Government sanctioned Rs. 3 crores last for land acquisition to build other infrastructure.

The onus is on the elected representatives and government authorities to convince the families who own about 130 acres of land to accept the compensation and vacate the land.

The Government has directed the Deputy Commissioner to acquire the land under the emergency clause, and money has been sanctioned for the acquisition.

Once the new runway is ready, the construction of the passenger terminal will get priority after the land acquisition process is completed. All trains that pass through Porkodi from the South (Kerala) and the North (Goa, Mumbai) could halt at this station to enable passengers to reach the airport which then will be only 3 km from the Porkodi railway station.

After the airport at Bajpe, the next airport towards the South is located at Kozhikode and towards the North at Panaji. People in the region from Karwar onwards to the north and from Kannur onwards to the south of Mangalore can reach Bajpe by train on the Konkan line.

Once the Sakleshpur-Subrahmanya Road (Nettana) section of the Hassan-Mangalore railway line is completed, then people from Hassan onwards can reach Bajpe via Mangalore by train.

Cargo

The Konkan railway line can also be used to transport cargo from and to the airport.

Hence, the Porkodi railway station will emerge as an important centre if developed properly and pave the way for the overall growth of the region.

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