Work at a snail's pace on Shidlaghatta railway station

Hundreds of citizens welcome the first train to Shidlaghatta in March this year
Work on the railway line between Chikkaballapur and Shidlaghatta being completed, the railway engine was taken on an experimental run on the line on Wednesday.

Officers of the Railway Department travelled till Shidlaghatta, to ensure proper working of the line and the engine. The new railway connection from Chikkaballapur to Kolar was expected to open around July.

“This is the first such experimental run of a railway engine till Shidlaghatta. Now, only the work on the line connecting Shidlaghatta to Chintamani is remaining and is expected to be completed by June. If the remaining work on the Railway line is completed in time, we should have a train starting July this year,” Anand, an engineer of the railway department had said.

The new train, from Chikkaballapur till Kolar via Shidlaghatta and Chintamani was expected to convenience thousands of passengers as they can travel directly to Bangalore. The journey is also expected to be pleasant, as the train travels by highways and through fields.

However, the work is far from complete. The work on the underpasses between Shidlaghatta and Chintamani is progressing at a snail’s pace and the track work is yet to take place.

Earlier there was a narrow gage train from Bangarpet to Yelahanka started during the rule of the Mysore kings. It stopped operating in 1989. Subsequently the work on converting this line into broad gage began. A new railway station was built and a trial run was carried out in March this year.

There are five railway stations including Shidlaghatta, Chintamani, Y Hunsenahalli, Gidnahalli and Chikkaballapur.

Shidlaghatta is the only town in the district that has the railway station (which comes under the Southern Western railway zone), inside the town, not on the outskirts. The hoot of the train is therefore audible to every house in Shidlaghatta town. People travel more by train than by bus.

This line when completed will make is convenient for the people, especially students, to commute to Bangalore and Chintamani. It is also convenient to transport silk cocoons by train besides leading to increase in commerce and business.