The Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station also known as Bengaluru City Railway Station has become the first railway station in India with a movable freshwater tunnel aquarium, news agency PTI reported on Thursday. The aquarium has been opened by the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Limited (IRSDC) in collaboration with the HNi Aquatic Kingdom, the report added.
The aquarium is based on the concept of Amazon River and is one-of-its-kind, promising to be a visual treat and a passenger’s delight, the IRSDC said in a statement.
Besides augmenting the experience of passengers, the initiative would add to the revenue of the Indian Railways, IRSDC added in the statement. The nominal entry fee of the aquarium at the Bengaluru railway station has been kept at ₹25 for each passenger.
Addressing the ongoing coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, IRSDC CEO and MD SK Lohia said that strict norms would be in place and that up to 25 visitors can visit the aquarium at a time, the PTI report stated.
In the statement, IRSDC added that the aquatic kingdom, which is 12-feet long, is Indian Railways first paludarium housing myriad flora and fauna, and when a visitor will enter the venue, a dolphin will greet them with a “slight bow and a smile.”
Notably, IRSDC stated that the establishment of the aquarium comes after it was given the mandate to undertake facility management of five railway stations across India in order to make travel hassle-free and boost customer experience. Apart from Bengaluru, the other stations are located in Anand Vihar (Delhi), Secunderabad, Chandigarh and Pune.
The company also noted, as reported by PTI, that it will soon undertake the facility management of 90 additional railway stations of India in a phased manner.
The news comes on the same day when the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) resumed operations in the Karnataka capital from 7am to 6pm. In a statement, BMRCL said that metro services will be available from Monday to Friday in view of the weekend curfew. The frequency of the trains will be five minutes in peak hours and 15 minutes in non-peak hours.
Notably, Bengaluru metro also known as ‘Namma’ metro was supposed to resume operations on June 21 in two time slots – 7am to 11am, and 3pm to 6pm, but was later changed to Thursday after the Karnataka government relaxed the Covid-19 curbs due to drop in cases.