JOIN USState gets wagon factory, suburban trains
In fact ‘Didi’ has actually been liberal, sanctioning a wagon-manufacturing unit at Kolar which is represented in the Lok Sabha by her junior colleague K H Muniyappa. She has also granted several DEMUs-suburban trains. Kolar has something more to cheer about as Muniyappa has succeeded in getting more for his constituency.
Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, in a recent letter to the Railway Minister, had requested a wagon-making factory and promised to give 100 acre land and other infrastructure.
The State was granted seven sub-urban trains — six sub-urban local trains DEMU (Diesel Electrical Multiple Unit) and a MEMU (Mainline Electrical Multiple Unit) train services. Of the six DEMUs, three will connect Bangalore with neighbouring towns such as Bangarpet, Dharmapuri and Kolar and rest are Kacheguda-Raichur, Raichur-Gadwal, Marikuppam-Bagarpet. One MEMU will run from Bangarpet and Kuppam.
The eight new express trains would only run or connect the southern part of the state causing disappointment to north Karnataka. However, extension of some of the trains is certain to delight passengers as the railway minister has granted long-standing demands such as extension of Yeshwanthpur -Mangalore train to Karwar, Mysore-Shimoga Train. to Talaguppa, Hyderabad-Wadi Express train to Gulbarga.
Extending Train Management System to Bangalore station would help passengers get information on running trains, while Bangalore City station would also get modern trolleys with rail yatri sevaks.
The pre-feasibility study for Chennai-Bangalore golden railway corridor, which the Minister had announced, is a significant step forward in realising setting up an industrial corridor between the two cities. Though Karnataka has been insisting that the corridor should be extended till Belgaum, the study limits itself to Bangalore.
Setting up a polytechnic at Hubli-Dharwad will help northern Karnataka students to get skill development training.
The announcement of survey for 16 new railway lines, including doubling of Bangalore-Hubli, Birur Shimoga, has raised hopes for the people of the region that would benefit them in the long run.
The Railway Minister sanctioned five new projects involving an investment of of Rs 1996.90 crore to construct 364 km railway line. As a first step, Rs 15 crore has been earmarked in this budget.
Projects announced for Karnataka are likely to increase the state railway network to 25 per cent from 15 per cent in 2008-09, claimed the Minister of State for Railway.
Mamata also said Rs 873.79 crore has been allocated in the budget for the state for on-going projects --including construction of new lines, gauge conversion, doubling and electrification. Last year, the sum was only Rs 532 crore. "With the increase of allocation in this year's budget, compared to the last year, the railways ministry is keen to enhance the infrastructure in the state,” the minister said.
The state was hoping to get nod for many more long pending projects like Bangalore-Chamarajnagar-Satyamangala, Kadur-Chickmaglur-Sakaleshpur, Bidar-Gulbarga, Munirabad-Mehboobnagar, but none of them were considered in the budget.
State’s kitty
Proposed DEMU : 6
* Bangalore Cant-Bangarpet
* Dharmapuri-Bangalore
* Marikuppam-Bangarpet
* Kacheguda-Raichur
* Raichur-Gadwal
* Kolar-Bangalore
MEMU : 1
* Bangarpet-Kuppam