Circular train for City proposed

Railway Board to study feasibility

The Government has sent the proposal to the Railway Board for a feasibility study. The route is expected to cover Kolar, Ramanagara and other adjoining districts.

Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa on Wednesday said his department was willing to take up the matter as soon as the Railway Board conducts the study.

“We have learnt that the proposal for the circular train has reached the Board and I will also personally speak to the Chairman and try to ascertain the feasibility,” he said.

The minister was in Bangalore for quarterly review of the projects in the State with the officials of the South Western Railways. He said the progress of the ongiong projects was satisfactory.

Doubling of tracks

Briefing the media on the project status, the Union Minister said the Bangalore-Mysore doubling of tracks project will be delayed by three months due to the overbridge constructions along the alignment.

The minister said: “There are quite a few important overbridges to be constructed and they need to be cleared first. We are confident of completing the project by March 2013.”
The Railways will complete the doubling of line from Ramanagara to Nagenahalli near Channapatna, a stretch of 19 kilometres, by December.

He said with the State Government now providing the much needed support over land acquisitions and sharing the cost burden, the Railways will be able to expedite work on the projects and complete most of them within five years.

Stud farm

On the Kunigal stud farm land required for the Railways to build the double lane between Bangalore and Hassan, Muniyappa said the matter is now with the State Government and it has to decide.

“We will need a maximum of two years after the land is provided to us, to complete the project. Ideally we would like to keep the same alignment cutting across the stud farm,” he said.

The government officials said the matter will be taken up at the next Cabinet meeting of the State Government.

Overall, the Railways has completed surveys of 12 new railway lines including Shimoga-Harihara, Whitefield-Davangere and Tumkur-Haveri.