Union Minister of State for Railways R Velu has set the first fortnight of November this year, as the deadline to start the train services between Bangalore and Mangalore train.

Talking to media persons at the Bangalore City Railway Station after inaugurating the VIP lounge on Monday, the minister said, the Commissioner for Railway Safety (CRS) has given permission to run a passenger train between Mangalore and Bangalore. The CRS had earlier put some conditions for commencing the train because of which the service was delayed.

“The Western Ghat region is a tough terrain. There are also land slides in the region. For safety reasons we did not have a passenger train between Mangalore and Bangalore. Now we have decided to have a train service since there’s already a goods train on the track,” said Mr Velu.

The Minister said that the Railway Ministry has agreed in principle to introduce high speed corridors and for that pre-feasibility study will soon take place. These high speed corridors will run in all the major railway zones in east, west, north and south, he added.

He said a decision will be taken in this regard with the consent of the state governments. “Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and West Bengal are keen on this project,” he added.

Regarding the utilisation of Indian Railways’ land for other purposes, Mr Velu said, a body has been constituted to study various aspects of land development. “The land may be used by railways or private investors. The railway can even enter into joint venture and encourage public-private partnership. They would also allow agricultural use of its land and for it, the railway may develop agriculture outlets. However, no SEZ would come up on the railway land,” said the minister. Mr Velu later inaugurated the fountain and figurines at the City Railway Station and dedicated to public a Dual Display Interactive Communication System (DDICS).

The DDICS will bring transparency in ticketing and provide rail travel related information to the passengers. For example, at the reservation counter, often the passengers are told that there is no berth available while there could be seats for allotment. Now with DDICS, reservation clerks also will not be able to lie to the passengers as all the details will be displayed on the system. There are 19 vertically mounted LCD monitors at the reservation counter. Altogether there will be 102 such monitors in Bangalore including some at the unreserved ticket counter.
 The minister also inaugurated the modern concourse with pictoral tribute to the freedom fighters at the City Railway Station.On the fate of the UPA government in the wake of a stand off between Congress and the Left parties on the Indo-US nuclear deal, Mr Velu said that the UPA will run a full term of five years.