The Chinese are here to help you zip to Mysore
MoU signed for high-speed 160 kmph train
Bengaluru: There’s good news for regular commuters between Bengaluru and Mysore . Besides the government’s plans to six- lane the highway between the two cities to cut travel time , South Western Railways has now decided to introduce faster trains which could take merely an hour to the cover the distance between them.
Currently trains take at least two hours and forty minutes to cover the 139 km distance between the two cities. Some passenger trains even take four hours to travel this stretch. But the railways are now planning to increase the speed of a few trains between the two cities to 160 kms per hour and cut the travel time to around an hour using Chinese expertise.
A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by Railway Board chairman, Arunendra Kumar and Vice Minister and Administrator of National Railway Administration (NRA), China, Dengfu, for transfer of expertise to improve the speed of trains in the Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysore section to 160 kmph, according to South Western Railway officials.
The project was announced in the railway budget presented by Union railway minister, D V Sadananda Gowda, recently. Currently trains between Mysore and Chennai take nine- and- a- half hours to travel the 500 km distance between them. South Western Railways has already completed doubling of track between the two stations. "Our experts feel the existing tracks can be upgraded easily to run the high speed trains. But we are waiting for Chinese experts to check them out," said a railway official.
"Once high speed trains are introduced between Bengaluru and Mysore it will be possible to develop satellite towns enroute as well," noted Mr. Premchand Bhat, a logistics consultant.