Start electric trains from Bengaluru to Tumakuru right away, don’t wait for VIPs: Passengers to railways

Passengers and activists want the railways to start running electric trains between Bengaluru and Tumakuru now that the section has been electrified and approved.

On November 4, the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) approved the operation of electric trains on the 69.47-km line.

The green signal has rekindled hopes of more trains being run between the two cities for the benefit of regular passengers. Before the pandemic, an average of 20 trains ran in each direction a day. Several were long-distance passenger trains that were converted into express trains after the second wave of Covid-19.

Krishna Prasad K N, a member of the Karnataka Railway Vedike, said converting passenger trains with a route length of over 200 km into express trains would automatically eliminate several stops. Thousands of passengers who travelled by these trains from smaller stations are now forced to look for other means of transport, he added.

According to Prasad, the operation of four passenger trains between Bengaluru and Tumakuru was also disrupted by the pandemic. With fuel prices making other means of transport unaffordable for the poor, he asked the railways to run more passenger trains to help lakhs of working-class people.

Prasad asked the railways to start running electric runs between the two cities instead of waiting for elected representatives to inaugurate the section.

Bengaluru Divisional Railway Manager Shyam Singh said he was aware of the demand but clarified that there was no immediate plan to introduce electric trains on the route.

T R Raghothama Rao, a member of the zonal railway users’ committee, said the railways had not conducted any meeting with the panel in the last year by citing Covid. “We had requested the (Tumakuru) MP to raise the issues of passenger and electric trains at the railways’ meeting with MPs scheduled for November 11. That meeting was cancelled,” he said.

SWR Chief Public Relations officer Aneesh Hegde said pre-Covid train operations were being restored. “It’s a phase-wise restoration based on demand. We are responding to suggestions from people’s representatives as seen in the Kolar section. We have requisitioned the railway board for MEMU rakes, and Bengaluru-Tumakuru is one of the sections where they will be operated,” he said.

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