CPM MP and chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on Railways Basudeb Acharia has advocated a third terminal for Bangalore to meet the demands for more trains connecting it with major cities of the country. “We will recommend for a third terminal so that Bangalore could be connected with Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Srinagar and other cities,” said Acharia while addressing an interactive meeting organised by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) on Saturday.

He also suggested an overnight superfast train between Bangalore and the zonal headquarters of the South Western Railway at Hubli. Reacting to the memorandum submitted to him by the FKCCI, the communist leader said Indian Railways had 51,000-km railway line during independence and 60 years later, the country had only 62,000 kilometres. “In free India, we could only lay 11,000 kilometres railway track where as China had 11,000 km railway tracks in 1949 and now it has 75,000-km-long railway line,” said Acharia. The railways needed at least Rs 45,000 crore to implement pending schemes.