Rail Budget has nothing great to offer for Mysore

Among five extended trains four are existing services

There have been several demands by passengers for additional trains and increased frequency towards Bangalore and also Chamarajanagar.

The demand for extension of the railway line up to Metupalyam is decades old, but to no avail. Following a lot of demands over the past few decades, a survey on the Mysore Kushalnagar line has been taken up last year. Works on the Mysore-Bangalore track doubling is progressing at snail’s pace.

Taking the potential for development and aspirations of the people of the city into consideration, the Railway Budget presented on Tuesday has been a great disappointment.

Except for proposals for a few works under the Mysore-Bangalore double track project and extension of only one train up to Mysore — that which used to end at Bangalore — there is nothing much that would bring cheers for Mysoreans.

Taking into consideration the huge demand for passenger trains from Mysore to Bangalore, the double track project was initiated a decade ago. The works started some five years ago and was supposed to be commissioned in 2012. However, the works are going on at snail’s pace and there are no hopes of it meeting even the recent deadline of 2014.

The proposals in 2013-14 budget that would benefit Mysore are:

Doubling projects: Byadarahalli-Pandavapura and Settihalli-Maddur.

Extension of trains:

1. 17307/17308 Bagalkot-Yesvantpur Express to Mysore
2. 12577/12578 Darbhanga-Bangalore Express to Mysore
3. 16591/16592 Hubli-Bangalore Express to Mysore
4. 16535/16536 Solapur-Yesvantpur Express to Mysore
5. 56275/56276 Mysore-Shimoga Town Passenger to Talguppa

However, there is no mention of Pandavapura to Srirangapatna doubling and electrification. So the project may take some more years before the dream comes true. Among extensions, only Darbhanga-Bangalore up to Mysore is a new proposal. The rest have already been extended and are running up to Mysore as specials. The budget, only officially confirms their services.

The railways also hopes to complete some works taken up during 2012-13 by March 31. They are:

Doubling projects: Channapatna-Settihalli, Hanakere-Mandya and Mandya-Yeliyur.
Electrification projects: Ramnagaram-Maddur.

But there is no guarantee that these works would be completed before March 31.