T’puram: The railways started construction of the north block passenger terminal building for departures and arrivals as part of station redevelopment work at Thiruvananthapuram central railway station in the March first week.This is coming up in the space where the old running staff buildings and a portion of the platform shelter were demolished for the work. The nine-floor North Block-1 at the Kollam end of the existing station building is proposed as both a departure and arrival block. The ground floor will be the departure and arrival lobby, with ticket counters, retail outlets, hotel or commercial lobbies, toilets, a tourist information desk, a lift, escalators and staircases. The first floor will be a mezzanine with railway offices, hotel or commercial lobbies, toilets, a lift, escalators and staircases. The second floor will be a concourse with connectivity to the departure concourse for outgoing passengers and connectivity from the arrival concourse for incoming passengers. Both departure and arrival passengers will have access to and from all platforms via lift, escalators, and staircases. The remaining seven floors will be commercial floors.The North Block-1 building will be constructed by demolishing the existing booking counter and all other buildings up to Amayizhanjan canal. The demolition of the buildings is in progress, said an official.As the work progresses, the railways plan to replace the existing foot overbridge at the Kollam end. The work will start only after commissioning of the arrival concourse at the Kollam end.
