M B Patil seeks express train between Bengaluru and Vijayapura

Patil said that the train will benefit thousands of people from Vijayapura and Bagalkot districts travelling to Bengaluru forvarious purposes, including education, administrative work and business.

Bengaluru: Industries and Infrastructure Development Minister M B Patil has urged the Railways to introduce the long-pending express train between Bengaluru and Vijayapura now that the work on the 9.6-km Almatti-Wandal double line has been completed. 

In a letter dated March 30 to Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw and Union Minister of State for Railways V Somanna, Patil referred to an earlier meeting wherein the possibility of introducing an express train between Bengaluru and Vijayapura upon the completion of work on the Almatti-Wandal double line had been discussed. Patil urged both the ministers to consider the issue on priority. 

The train will benefit thousands of people from Vijayapura and Bagalkot districts travelling to Bengaluru forvarious purposes, including education, administrative work and business, said Patil.

It takes 15 hours to travel between the two cities, which Patil opined was inconvenient, stressing the need to reduce the duration of the journey to 10 hours. He also called for limiting the number of stops between Bengaluru and Hubballi, and routing the train via Hubballi and Gadag bypass lines.