Guest Column: Big leap for twin cities, sanction semi-high speed trains too'

The completion  of the doubling and electrification of the railway track between Bengaluru and Mysuru has enhanced rail connectivity between the two cities in a big way. This is a major railway infrastructure project that saw cost sharing between the government of Karnataka and the railways in the ratio 66:33 for the doubling  and 50:50 for electrification, with the former contributing Rs 581 crore and the railways, Rs 409 crore. This will enable the running of dedicated superfast trains between the two cities in less than 100 minutes and  will help bring down road accidents.

Doubling of the railway infrastructure has now enabled the cultural city of Mysyuru  which attracts investment in IT, manufacturing, tourism and education, to have direct train connectivity  with  all metros, places of pilgrimage like Shirdi, Varanasi, Tiru pathi, and Thanjavur,  and most places of  tourism interst  like Udaipur, Jaipur, Bijapur and Ajmer. Also, now more train services can be run from Mysuru to Chikballapur, Kolar and Doddaballapur in the near future. Running dedicated superfast trains like the Shatabdi between Mysuru and Bengaluru will make travel more enjoyable and help attract more tourists to the city as Bengaluru is well connected by air to major cities across world.

Now  there is huge demand  for adding more train services from Mysuru to other cities of Karnataka as well.  Electrification will  encourage running of more electric trains, including MEMUs, to meet the demand for  local travel in and around Mysuru and will reduce the pollution caused by diesel-run trains.

The Railway Minister should  sanction  semi- high speed trains between Bengaluru and Mysuru to bring travel time down to 60 minutes and  further enhance their running capacity by eliminating all level crossings, and strengthening  and fencing the tracks.